This movie is well acted and well directed, but it is incredibly boring. I cannot believe it got a 66 score on metacritic. I wish I could have my two hours back. The trailer looked good, it got 66, so I gave it a chance. Avoid this movie.

This movie was awful not one laugh in the whole movie the only good part of this was when it read the end.

This is very, very, very, slow movie. I love slow movies, if they are entertaining. This movie is almost painful to watch. Painful to realize 18 dollars went toward this movie. If you really want to see I hope you like it. I would till the dvd comes out, The rent it.

Instantly forgettable. This is one incredibly dull film. I have watched paint dry with more enthusiasm.

Worst movie ever. Sooo boring. I watched 8 people leave. Them leaving was the most interesting part of this lame movie. I want a refund. I can honestly say I have no idea what you others were watching. It was like watching a bad tv sitcom in the early 90's. Only reason people would like this is that they are old and it reminds them of old fashioned mustaches. Terrible in every way.

The narrative is muddled and played as a kind of inside joke. Instead of telling the story in a clear, linear fashion, Soderbergh seems to go out of his way to repel the viewer and mock all the characters. Matt Damon does a fine job with the material, but I cannot understand why he felt the need to gain 30 pounds for this role, which could have been played with equal skill at his normal weight. Soderbergh seems to have peaked too early in his career, with Out of Sight, The Limey, and Erin Brockovich standing as his best efforts. Everything he has made since then, in my view, has been narcissistic -- apparently done for his own pleasure and with a disregard for his audience.… Expand

Boring movie about an insane man and his wacky wife. Why do people think such a dishonest and duplicitous man is fun?

Terrible-- no humor, a nothing.

Aptly named, informative, not funny Laughs were few and far between. This movie reminds me most of a Enron documentary I once saw, informative but not captivating.

Story line muddled, music was terrible and there was not one character I could empathize with. Only saving grace was Damon's performance.

This movie was like "Catch Me If You Can" sans the entertainment. The actors are all competent and the plot is decent, but the movie is incredibly slow and the laughs are far and few between. Critics praise everything Soderbergh creates, so keep that in mind when you read their reviews. And re: Paul W. What movie were YOU watching? This movie was a couple things, but "hysterical" is not one of them.… Expand

I didn't care for either the characters or the story. Too bad, could have been interesting.

Slow, not funny, and so many lies it gives you a headache.

Oh dear god was this movie bad! I counted 6 people out to the 20 or so that even went to see it, get up and leave during the movie. Almost joined them myself. It just kept getting worse as the movie went along. I will never get that 2 hours of my life back.

When I saw The Informant! in my On Demand "$1.99 or less" section, I had to wonder why. Looking back, the commercials made it out to look like a funny little movie about a goofy FBI informant full of cheeky groaners. And come on, nothing with Matt Damon and Scott Bakula could be that bad. At a stretch, the movie is labeled a comedy. From the opening of the movie onward, we're treated to Mark Whitacre's inner monologue. Fun fact: It's mostly about corn and corn products. For those of us who don't find a guy obsessing over corn hilarious, it would seem Mr. Soderbergh set down a single alternate steam of "humor", the ever-changing lie that Whitacre tells. That gets about as funny as a kid making up excuses for missing homework. I began falling asleep 30 minutes in, and checking how much longer every 10 minutes. 2 hours I wish I had slept through, a great comedy for those of us who don't like to laugh.… Expand

Damon is an incredible actor and I would watch the Informant again on video...Very interesting what the guy went through just to cover up one lie after the other...crazy! Can't beleive that was based on true events.

The beginning was pretty boring. But then when it got past 30 minutes in it was utterly hysterical and brilliant.

Definitely recommended. A clever approach, deftly executed.

By no means a perfect movie, I think many of the criticisms are unwarranted. Is it fast-paced? No. The story slowly moves along in the beginning, until the pace picks up in the last twenty minutes. But is it boring? Definitely not. Damon's Whitacre more than holds interest as a reflection of our constant need for validation and justification in life; even as he does more and more wrong, he still tries to justify himself as the "guy in the white hat." Damon also helps by finding a sympathetic edge in all of Mark's idiocy. Additionally, the fact that Soderbergh doesn't lose focus on ADM admist Whitacre's life falling apart is part of what helps the audience keep perspective.… Expand

Well made but very convoluted and hard to follow. No redeemable characters sink this quickly.

Very well done. Matt Damon plays completely against type, and pulls it off.

This film is great. It follow in the vein as Soderbergh's early film "Schizopolis," but simplified for more mass appeal. It's a smart comedy film, working on two levels. I suppose that's the only drawback - Some people just want to watch two hours of fart jokes - this isn't that film.

Just saw this in Toronto....an instant classic...totally hysterical!!

A very fresh take on this story and remains true to itself throughout. A sure bet for an entertaining evening--both fun and thoughtful.

Crazy convoluted and wickedly funny tale based on a true story. Great cameos from the Smothers Brothers and a terrific soundtrack by Marvin Hamlisch make this a must-see for anyone over 40. (Catch Me If You Can is in a similar league.)

This is not a "Hilarious" nor even funny movie. Saw this on opening day Friday Sept 18 th. The actors look as if they are stunned especially the FBI and the woman with DOJ. The story line has little continuity and overall is quite boring. Don't waste your time on this "Dud".

Those voiceovers, those digressive voiceovers: What is the moviegoer to make of them? Understanding the functionality of Mark Whitacre's non-sequitirs is what makes "The Informant" such a beguilling film to watch. Are Whitacre's ramblings triggered by his manic-depressive condition; are his interior monologues an involuntary occurence, a voice made intrinsic by psychosis which he has no control over? Does the film side, or disagree with Whitacre supporters, who contend that their man, this convicted felon, got an unfair sentence? Did he put the ly-(lie) in lysine? Corn and its prevalence in our lives almost has a literal effect on this husband and father of three(or is that one?), an executive-turned-whistleblower who can rattle off a CORN-ucopia of facts at will, as perhaps, a quasi-semblant means of self-preservation. But what if his palaverous fact-based discourses are actually calculated flights of fancy; what if the voiceovers are a symptom of fallible narration, coded talk about money-laundering and embezzelment schemes masquerading as wide-eyed gibberish? At Whitacre's sentencing, the presiding judge can't help but roll his eyes at the ADM executive's mentioning of his own bipolar disorder, because the robed man deems this whistleblower's actions as nothing more than a case of "garden-variety greed". The judge doesn't go so far as to call Whitacre's manic depression an outright fabrication, which for him is being tactful, since he irrevocably disreputes the defense's theory of cause and effect, a viewpoint that may prove to be the same as the filmmaker's. An early scene between the bamboozled FBI agent(Scott Bakula) and Whitacre has the distinction of containing a voiceover that's incongruously appurtenant to the situation, in which the whistleblower comments on Brian's overall affability and nice guy-ness, instead of going off at a tangent on, say, high-end sushi and matadors, after his second interview. For once, he sounds introspectively thoughtful, and not like some kind of kook. Such cognizance backs up the judge's assertion that there was no crossover between Whitacre's bipolarity and his nefarious acts of capitalistic creativity.… Expand

First off, this movie is definitely not for everyone. From the hokey title, the corny 60's games show score, and the strange stream of consciousness narrative spoken my Matt Damon's character - this movie is extremely offbeat. I saw 6 people walk out, and to be truthful I was almost one of them. But I stuck it out, and incredibly The Informant became a good movie. The performances are well done, and some of the cameos are rather amusing.… Expand

Subtle, funny, a little confusing.

Not Soderbergh's best film, but clearly Matt Damon's best performance of his career. He is obviously taking the Nicholson career path with his choices and The Informant should put him on Oscar's shortlist for 2009. His narration as the movie progresses seems totally out of sync with the story, but it turns out to be the key to the whole film. Excellent, reminded me of Catch Me If You Can.… Expand

A sophisticated comedy that suggests the arrival of a new style-- so smart that it passes irony and arrives at a fresh way of presenting the human. In that way it is a generation fresher than "Burn after Reading," which felt a bit arch in comparison. Sometimes Soderbergh is too cerebral for me but here the story was so rich and so deftly told, and Damon's so ripe a performance that, by the time it's over-- if you give it the attention it deserves-- you will be amply rewarded.… Expand

Underrated story of bizarre corporate executive, Mark Whitacre in a story of manufactured espionage that keeps the viewer thinking throughout the entire film. Funny, dark and disturbing when one thinks of the people running corporate America.

One word to describe this movie, bad. Tell you the truth I couldn't even finish watching because it was so uninteresting and NOT funny, actually, was this movie suppose to be funny?

Years ago I worked for a guy who seemed to be a pretty good egg. Short guy, a bit of a Napolean complex. But also a bit of a swashbuckler, friendly, willing to take chances. Exciting to work for. And what stories he had about his life: successful news director, A-7 pilot in the Air National Guard, award-winning photo-journalist. Never been fired in a business that eats its own.

Then I met the guy who'd fired him. And all his stories came crumbling down. Pretty much every one of them a pack of lies. Got so bad he tried to take me down with him when he got canned for a second time. Mark Whitacre's just like him. Whitacre's the guy whose secret tapes help make a price-fixing case against agri-giant Archer Daniels Midland. Working undercover for the FBI for two-and-a-half years, Whitacre assiduously recorded meetings with ADM's competitors at which production levels and prices were fixed. But the more the FBI learned about Whitacre the more it wondered if it was prosecuting the wrong case. Whitacre's life was a hopeless maze of lie piled upon lie. And he embezzled. A lot. In The Informant! director Steven Soderbergh's tells Whitacre's story in a style that is wry, oddly cheerful and yet deeply, deeply cynical. That Soderbergh is after bigger fish than a mere embezzler should be clear from his casting of the enormously sympathetic and likable Matt Damon as the embezzler-in-chief. Damon's uncomfortably convincing as a guy with strange energy who's spinning tales from the opening minute to the last. But Soderbergh treats him almost affectionately. Because in Soderbergh's worl, Whitacre's on the bottom rung of a ladder in which everyone's working an angle, all the way to the top. ADM, the FBI, federal prosecutors, attorneys, the media... no-one's dealing an honest hand. In a world that's so thoroughly corrupt and bumbling, Whitacre's embezzled millions begin to look like small potatoes. So it's kind of funny to watch him make them dance to his tune.

I found The Informant! to be simultaneously entertaining and alienating. There really isn't a character you truly like, except perhaps for Whitacre's eternally supportive wife, and she's a bit of a dim bulb. If the film works it's because Soderbergh refuses to bring the doom and gloom. In a world full of liars, he seems to be saying, whaddya gonna do?… Expand

Kinda SPOILERS unless you haven't heard anything all about the film: This is an example of the mark of a great actor: the first time you watch this, you're like : "okay" a Matt D says a bunch of stuff. But at the end of the show you find out that it's all lies, so you watch it a second time and see all those times you believed him... it was OBVIOUS he's lying. HAHAHAHHHA. When you know he's lying, it's all clear when before he wasn't. I will tell you a lie right now: I am a deformation and I am determined to end the world. I was obviously lying when I told you that I am a deformation.… Collapse

Quirky and witty, 'The Informant!' is a great film. Mat Damon did a great job of portraying Mark Wittaker, a man high up in a corrupt corporation. He did a great job of portraying Wittaker as a man that thought he was a lot smarter and a lot nobler than he actually was. The acting was fantastic, the story intriguing, and just slightly off. The only issue I had with 'The Informant!' was that the pacing slowed dramatically for the last half an hour.… Expand

A dull boring film that is not funny or engaging. The film's style is stupid and ultimately the film's writer and director let it down. Matt Damon is as good as you can be in a bad movie.

"The Informant!" One Line Review - B!

Really well acted all around, funny in a "What is happening?" way more than an obvious gag way, "The Informant!" will keep you interested and entertained. (Starring Matt Damon) - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant/