‘Informant’ is contradictory
Steven Soderbergh’s ‘‘The Informant!,’’ though based on a true story, continually contradicts itself. The 1970s style attempts to capture a 1990s setting, comic moments interrupt a tragic cycle of greed, and overly bright lighting inexplicably blurs the screen.
Matt Damon makes the movie worth watching as Mark Whitacre, an intelligent biochemist, who becomes the highest-ranked whistle-blower in history. Whitacre tells the FBI about his company’s massive, international price-fixing and then spends the next three years spying on his bosses. He’s untrained, and his clumsiness is occasionally hilarious.
However, the movie’s ultimate plot twist is an awkward attempt at Peter Sellers’ style of spy comedy and cynical story of the “everyman.” The “everyman” in this story is corrupt, so ultimately it is difficult to relate to him. There’s nothing to grab on to, and likely little to remember.
-Nathan Fuller
‘Jennifer’s Body’… Career killer?
It was initially exciting to hear that Diablo Cody, the Academy Award winning writer of ‘‘Juno,’’ was writing the screenplay to a teenage horror/comedy. The biggest surprise of the film, however, is that Cody ever won an Oscar for writing anything.
“Jennifer’s Body” is a mess. The genre is ambiguous throughout and doesn’t succeed in being funny or scary.
Though the movie’s first half hour is amusing, once the gore and carnage kick in, it becomes overwhelmingly dreary. All of the previous attempted humor is overshadowed by the film’s malicious tone.
Despite promises of transcending her role in ‘‘Transformers,’’ Megan Fox’s performance is one-dimensional. Though Amanda Seyfried as her best friend, Needy Lesnicky, is slightly better, it is difficult for any amount of decent acting to overcome the terrible script. It is a nasty, dirty, and uncomfortable experience.
-Jason Seyler
