The Informers

Name: The Informers
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: April 24, 2009
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 20
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger

2009

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Ratings

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5.8

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5.8	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Ratings

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The Informers

Movie Details & Credits

Senator Distribution | Release Date: April 24, 2009 | R

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger

Summary: In such works as "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho," Brett Easton Ellis dissects contemporary American society, a culture in which too much is never enough. Now, adapting his own acclaimed novel for the screen, he returns to the Los Angeles of the early 1980's with a multi-strand narrative that deftly balances a vast array of charactersIn such works as "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho," Brett Easton Ellis dissects contemporary American society, a culture in which too much is never enough. Now, adapting his own acclaimed novel for the screen, he returns to the Los Angeles of the early 1980's with a multi-strand narrative that deftly balances a vast array of characters who represent both the top of the heap (a Hollywood dream merchant, a dissolute rock star, an aging newscaster) and the bottom (a voyeuristic doorman, an amoral ex-con). Connecting all his intertwining strands are the quintessential Ellis protagonists—a group of beautiful, blonde young men and women who sleep all day and party all night, doing drugs—and one another—with abandon, never realizing that they are dancing on the edge of a volcano. (Senator Entertainment)… Expand

Director: Gregor Jordan

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 98 min

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Critic Reviews

Mick LaSalle

Has an air of detachment and sadness, enhanced by the movie's being set a full quarter century ago. Read full review

Stephen Farber

One long wallow in sordidness. Read full review

James Berardinelli

The Informers is nihilism for nihilism's sake; a bleak and borderline-unwatchable collage of misanthropes, self-absorbed a**holes, and pathetic weaklings as they struggle to move forward during the early 1980s in Los Angeles. Read full review

Perry Seibert

So, in essence, The Informers fails precisely because we never believe these lost souls were ever human enough to have had a soul to lose in the first place. Read full review

Michael Phillips

This one's a certifiable soul-sucker, dining out on its characters' venalities while wagging a finger at the horror, the horror. Read full review

Elizabeth Weitzman

Ellis' stamp is immediately apparent, from the absurdly vapid characters to the undercurrent of barely repressed anger. Read full review

Lou Lumenick

Tedious and tawdry. Read full review

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User Reviews

jonpauld

Apr 25, 2009

I was really excited to see this as an Ellis fan. I peaked at the reviews before hand and was nervous it might let me down. Please ignore the critics, this film was very well done. If you enjoyed "American Psycho" you will most likely enjoy this.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

RodrigoG

Apr 25, 2009

While it's not an exact word-for-word adaptation, if you enjoyed reading The Informers, you should go see this movie. Jordan's work in weaving together this series of loosely related short stories into a feature film is impressive, and will likely acquire the same cult following While it's not an exact word-for-word adaptation, if you enjoyed reading The Informers, you should go see this movie. Jordan's work in weaving together this series of loosely related short stories into a feature film is impressive, and will likely acquire the same cult following as other adaptations of Ellis's novels.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

tandream

Jan 22, 2018

This movie is veru underated! I think it's quite a masterpiece and the audience think it's ****

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ScottM

May 1, 2009

As a fan of Ellis's works, Im not sure one can successfully translate the powerful detachment of his satire into a film. This is a prime example.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

GREEK-GOD

Jan 6, 2018

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I can't call this movie utterly worthless because it does feature a beautiful and gloriously naked Amber Heard in several different scenes, as well as a couple of veteran performers who are fun to watch. Taken as a whole, however, I've gotten more enjoyment out of reading the ingredients on the side of a box of cereal.

Set in 1983 Los Angeles, this film is based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis. But unlike Less Than Zero, an Ellis-based movie that was roughly contemporaneous to the era it was depicting, The Informers is a dry and as cold and as distant as an archaeological dig or a scientist studying something under a microscope. It also has all the subtlety of an incontinent badger, tossing awful 1980s fashions and hairstyles in your face and throwing up a 80s pop culture reference roughly ever 4 minutes. I nearly stopped the DVD before this thing was halfway through and did something more useful with my time. Like clipping toenails or plucking out some back hair.

This is one of those stories where we're all supposed to learn something by looking at the miserable, pathetic lives of a bunch of tangentially connected people. Graham Sloan (Jon Foster) is an aimless, drug-dealing college kid who spends his time either having sex with his girlfriend Christie (Amber Heard) and his best friend Martin (Austin Nichols) or lamenting the emptiness of his existence. Martin one of Ellis' soulless douchebags and Christie is basically just a hot piece of *** that winds up being another 80s pop culture reference. Graham's father (Billy Bob Thornton) is a movie producer that's trying to get back together with Graham's mother (Kim Basinger), even though he's still hung up on a local newswoman (Winona Ryder).

But wait, there's more! Graham's other friend Tim (Lou Taylor Pucci) spends the movie in Hawaii with a father (Chris Isaak) he feels nothing but contempt for. We also get the tale of a burned out rock star (Mel Raldo) whose wife is also sleeping with Graham's friend Martin. And we get to see the front desk clerk at Christie's apartment (Brad Renfro) get mixed up in a kidnapping and sex slavery deal with Peter (Mickey Rourke), a scary dude and the clerk's father figure.

As mentioned previously, the good of this movie consists of three things.

1. The nude and lovely Amber Heard.

2. Kim Basinger's performance as a woman on the edge of emotional collapse. She only gets one scene where she gets to yell and carry on, but the seething turmoil she keeps going under the skin of Graham's mom is something to see. For an actress who was never much more than a face in her prime, Basinger is aging quite gracefully as both a woman and a thespian.

3. Getting to experience Mickey Rourke's charisma on screen. Whatever that indefinable "it" is that some people have and some don't, Rourke has it in spades. It's too bad that so many years of various forms of self-abuse have left Rourke so freakish-looking that there will never be that many more good roles for him. He's barely more than a cameo here, which is what his career will largely be from now onunless he starts doing a lot of science-fiction.

Beyond that, and some good work in a bad role by the late Brad Renfro, the rest of The Informers is pedantic rubbish. There's no point to these characters, their perversions or their suffering. Billy Bob Thornton looks like he's acting under the influence of Prozac. Winona Ryder appears to have taken this job as a form of extended community service. The younger members of the cast have the appeal of frozen slabs of beef, which may be intentional but remains unappetizing. All of the disparate plot threads resolve themselves exactly the way you expect them to, occasionally doing so with a character explaining what the resolution is supposed to mean so the audience doesn't miss it. It's enough of a struggle to get through a stupid film. It's almost too much to bear when that stupid film thinks I'm stupider than it.

This is yet another one of those movies that leaves you wondering "Who the bleep thought this was a good idea?" It's not like the name of Bret Easton Ellis guarantees any box office or critical acclaim. There had to have been a lot of money, drugs and sexual favors exchanged to get this film made. Unless someone is willing to give you money, drugs or do that thing your significant other won't do, stay away from The Informers.… Expand

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JayH

Aug 22, 2009

Okay, a bunch of shallow people in a very shallow movie, with shallow direction. Just what we need. The top notch production and cast can't save this one. The attempt to capture the 1980's fails miserably. Boring.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Oct 3, 2009

I have read all of Ellis' work and even I was turned off about the film version of a work of short stories. The simple fact is there is not much time for each character to become fully developed... and the fact that the "vampire" aspect was removed disappointed me greatly. Hopefully, I have read all of Ellis' work and even I was turned off about the film version of a work of short stories. The simple fact is there is not much time for each character to become fully developed... and the fact that the "vampire" aspect was removed disappointed me greatly. Hopefully, the film version of 'Lunar Park' makes up for this awful flick.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

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