# The Informant!
**The Informant!** is a 2009 American biographical comedy-drama-crime film directed by [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-soderbergh) and starring [Matt Damon](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-damon) as [Mark Whitacre](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-whitacre), the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) executive who became a whistleblower against his own company's international price-fixing conspiracy while concealing his own embezzlement from the FBI[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant). The film is based on the 2000 nonfiction book *The Informant: A True Story* by Kurt Eichenwald, a New York Times investigative journalist, with a screenplay by Scott Z. Burns[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64911). It was released wide in the United States on September 18, 2009 by Warner Bros.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / star | Steven Soderbergh; Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant) |
| Source | *The Informant: A True Story* by Kurt Eichenwald (New York, 2000); screenplay by Scott Z. Burns[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64911) |
| Release | September 18, 2009 (wide, United States); 108 minutes; rated R for language[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant) |
| Box office | $33,316,821 domestic, $8,454,347 international, $41,771,168 worldwide, against a $22,000,000 budget[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1130080/credits/) |
| Critical reception | 79% Tomatometer (227 reviews) and 44% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 66 from 37 critic reviews on Metacritic[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/) |
| Awards | 2 Golden Globe nominations, 3 Chicago Film Critics Association nominations, 3 Satellite Award nominations[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/) |
| Real case behind it | ADM pleaded guilty in 1996 and paid a $100 million fine, then the largest criminal antitrust fine in history[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/10/15/adm-to-pay-100-million-to-settle-price-fixing-case/95671342-94e0-492f-a439-4e8c19a74398/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and subject
The film follows Mark Whitacre, a rising executive at the agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland who in 1992 was the youngest divisional president in the company's history[6](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/informant/). Whitacre approaches the FBI with evidence that ADM and other agribusinesses are fixing prices, agrees to wear a wire and carry a hidden tape recorder, and imagines himself as a kind of secret agent who will be hailed as a hero of the common man and promoted[7](https://cinema.com/film/11004/informant/synopsis.phtml). The FBI agents handling him, played by [Scott Bakula](https://www.edgepedia.org/scott-bakula) and [Joel McHale](https://www.edgepedia.org/joel-mchale), get a rude surprise when they learn that their lead witness has been embezzling heavily from ADM, and his ever-changing account threatens the case as it becomes hard to tell what is real and what is the product of his rambling imagination[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant) • [7](https://cinema.com/film/11004/informant/synopsis.phtml).
The story is told through Whitacre's eyes and voice, and his narration, which wanders into logical dead ends and exotic trivia, marks him within minutes as an unreliable narrator[8](https://www.kqed.org/arts/25363/the_informant). In the film, his admitted embezzlement escalates in stages from $500,000 to $1 million, then $3.5 million, $5 million, $7 million, and $9 million, with a suggestion after his release from prison that he may have gotten away with about $11 million[6](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/informant/).
### Interpretation
Commentators have read the film as a study in self-deception rather than a corporate-crime thriller. KQED's review noted that the most subversive aspect is its offhand treatment of corporate malfeasance, addressing economic corruption without a single earnest moment, while Whitacre's fabrications distract from the basic truth that ADM fixed prices[8](https://www.kqed.org/arts/25363/the_informant). Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns said what struck him about Whitacre, from the book, was that he seemed bipolar, raising the question of whether he was a criminal or someone with a real psychological disorder who could not control himself; in the film Whitacre testifies in court that he takes medication for bipolar disorder[18](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/understanding-screenwriting-54/) • [6](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/informant/). Whistleblower advocates cautioned that the case should not be confused with what whistleblowers face day to day[19](https://abcnews.com/amp/Politics/informant-matt-damon-plays-whistleblower-mark-whitacre/story?id=8476213).
## The real case
The underlying events are documented. Whitacre was recruited by the FBI as a secret informant in November 1992 and tape-recorded conversations of ADM officials and their competitors for three years[9](https://ag.purdue.edu/commercialag/home/paer-article/lysine-a-case-study-in-international-price-fixing/) • [10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1995/08/08/justice-investigating-its-adm-informant/37991e29-f416-4701-a9c2-0a403b4dcc5c/). In October 1996 ADM agreed to pay $100 million to the U.S. Treasury and plead guilty to fixing the prices of two food-production ingredients, the largest criminal antitrust fine in history at that time, after a four-year global Justice Department investigation[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/10/15/adm-to-pay-100-million-to-settle-price-fixing-case/95671342-94e0-492f-a439-4e8c19a74398/). The company admitted guilt to a conspiracy with [Ajinomoto](https://www.edgepedia.org/ajinomoto), Biokyowa, Sewon, and Cheil Jedang aimed at setting lysine prices and dividing up sales of the additive, an amino acid used in animal feed[11](https://www.nprillinois.org/statehouse/2001-05-01/supermarkup-to-the-world-how-food-processor-adm-got-caught-in-a-price-fixing-scheme).
The outcomes for individuals were unusual. ADM executives Michael "Mick" Andreas and Terrance "Terry" Wilson were convicted by a federal jury in Chicago and sentenced to 33 months, increased from 24 months on appeal, each fined $350,000 personally[11](https://www.nprillinois.org/statehouse/2001-05-01/supermarkup-to-the-world-how-food-processor-adm-got-caught-in-a-price-fixing-scheme) • [12](https://www.ucd.ie/law/t4media/The%20Informant%20-%20Imelda%20Maher.pdf). Whitacre, the whistleblower, was also convicted: he was charged with embezzling $9 million from ADM and served eight years in prison[13](https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/informant-black-comedy-with-no-white-hats-3287289.php). One legal scholar's account gives his total as a 2-month sentence on top of the 9 years he received for embezzlement, and notes that at first instance Whitacre received a longer sentence than the executives, well above the norm for antitrust offenses at the time[12](https://www.ucd.ie/law/t4media/The%20Informant%20-%20Imelda%20Maher.pdf).
## Production and tone
Soderbergh and Burns heard the story on NPR in 2001, acquired the rights to Eichenwald's book, and hired Burns to write the script; the project then waited years for an open slot for both director and star[14](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/55125-one-on-one-with-steven-soderbergh). Soderbergh sent the book to Matt Damon, who agreed to play the lead, and the film was eventually shot in seven weeks after roughly seven years of development[15](https://www.comingsoon.it/cinema/news/steven-soderbergh-racconta-il-suo-the-informant/n969/). The production was a $22 million movie, and Soderbergh said the decision to make it a comedy was deliberate: [Michael Mann](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-mann)'s *The Insider* (1999) had already covered the serious whistleblower treatment, so he and Burns chose a black comedy instead, something he compared to *Citizen Ruth* rather than *The Insider*[14](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/55125-one-on-one-with-steven-soderbergh).
The comic approach extends to the film's style. Although the story takes place in the early 1990s, Soderbergh uses a title font and visual scheme borrowed from 1970s sitcoms and game shows, with a score by [Marvin Hamlisch](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvin-hamlisch), best known for *The Sting* (1973)[8](https://www.kqed.org/arts/25363/the_informant). Soderbergh also served as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym Peter Andrews, and Stephen Mirrione edited[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1130080/credits/) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64911). The film opens with a disclaimer stating that the characters are composites and ending with the words "so there", which Soderbergh said he took from the ending crawl of *Airplane* (1980) and moved to the front to remind viewers that the absurd story was true[16](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/damon-and-soderbergh-team-and-inform).
Damon gained weight and wore an unflattering mustache for the role; critics singled out the performance, with the [Chicago Tribune](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-tribune)'s Michael Phillips writing that the part afforded Damon a chance to work his sly comic chops[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/). The supporting cast includes [Melanie Lynskey](https://www.edgepedia.org/melanie-lynskey) as Whitacre's wife Ginger, Tom Papa as Mick Andreas, Rick Overton as Terry Wilson, Tony Hale as James Epstein, and [Patton Oswalt](https://www.edgepedia.org/patton-oswalt) as Ed Herbst[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/) • [17](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-informant).
## Reception
Critical response was favorable while audience response was cooler. Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 79% Tomatometer from 227 reviews against a 44% Popcornmeter from more than 250,000 ratings[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant). Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 66 from 37 critic reviews, with 68% positive and 32% mixed and none negative, while its user score stood at 6.3[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/). The critics consensus credited "a charismatic turn by star Matt Damon and a consistently ironic tone" for the film's quiet funniness[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant). Roger Ebert gave it 100 in the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times), describing how the film develops into an unexpected human comedy as Soderbergh peels away veils of deception[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/).
Commercially the film earned $10,464,314 on its domestic opening and finished with $33.3 million in the United States and $41.8 million worldwide against a $22 million budget[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1130080/credits/). It received two Golden Globe nominations along with nominations from the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Satellite Awards[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/).
## References
1. [The Informant! – Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1200661-informant)
2. [The Informant! (2009) – AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64911)
3. [The Informant! (2009) – Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1130080/credits/)
4. [The Informant! Reviews – Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-informant%21/)
5. [ADM to Pay $100 Million to Settle Price-Fixing Case – The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/10/15/adm-to-pay-100-million-to-settle-price-fixing-case/95671342-94e0-492f-a439-4e8c19a74398/)
6. [The Informant! – Plugged In](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/informant/)
7. [Informant (2009) Synopsis – Cinema.com](https://cinema.com/film/11004/informant/synopsis.phtml)
8. [The Informant! – KQED Arts](https://www.kqed.org/arts/25363/the_informant)
9. [Lysine: A Case Study in International Price Fixing – Purdue University](https://ag.purdue.edu/commercialag/home/paer-article/lysine-a-case-study-in-international-price-fixing/)
10. [Justice Investigating Its ADM Informant – The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1995/08/08/justice-investigating-its-adm-informant/37991e29-f416-4701-a9c2-0a403b4dcc5c/)
11. [Supermarkup to the World – NPR Illinois](https://www.nprillinois.org/statehouse/2001-05-01/supermarkup-to-the-world-how-food-processor-adm-got-caught-in-a-price-fixing-scheme)
12. [The Informant! (2009, S. Soderbergh director) – Imelda Maher, UCD](https://www.ucd.ie/law/t4media/The%20Informant%20-%20Imelda%20Maher.pdf)
13. ['Informant!' – black comedy with no white hats – San Francisco Chronicle](https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/informant-black-comedy-with-no-white-hats-3287289.php)
14. [One-on-One with Steven Soderbergh – ComingSoon.net](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/55125-one-on-one-with-steven-soderbergh)
15. [Steven Soderbergh racconta il suo The Informant – Comingsoon.it](https://www.comingsoon.it/cinema/news/steven-soderbergh-racconta-il-suo-the-informant/n969/)
16. [Damon And Soderbergh Team Up And Inform – Fresh Air Archive](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/damon-and-soderbergh-team-and-inform)
17. [The Informant! streaming – JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-informant)
18. [Understanding Screenwriting #54 – Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/understanding-screenwriting-54/)
19. ['The Informant' Sheds Light on Historic Whistleblowers – ABC News](https://abcnews.com/amp/Politics/informant-matt-damon-plays-whistleblower-mark-whitacre/story?id=8476213)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Individual biographical and docudrama films › Business, law, and journalism*
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