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The Informant!

139 statements
26 feature instances
11 referencing feature instances

The Informant!	type	TVTItem
The Informant!	label	The Informant!
The Informant!	page	TheInformant2009
The Informant!	comment	The Informant! is a 2009 movie directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon. It is Based on a True Story first described by journalist Kurt Eichenwald in his 2000 nonfiction book of the same title.The movie concerns itself with Mark Whitacre (Damon), an employee of Archer-Daniels-Midland (AKA ADM), a food production company. A probe into a possible sabotage turns Mark into a whistleblower for the FBI, as part of a multi-year investigation into worldwide lysine price fixing. But Mark himself is hiding a couple of shocking secrets as well...The film acts as a sort of counterpoint to Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich. While Brockovich was a drama, Informant! is more comedic in tone. While Brockovich was an intelligent Determinator, Whitacre is a foolish at best person and a compulsive liar. And while Brockovich's misdeeds after the events of the film were left out, Whitacre is shown as an Unreliable Narrator who fits Stupid Evil to a tee.Unlike most films about this subject matter that are inspired by a true story, this is Played for Laughs. Mostly. So there.It's also notable for featuring Marvin Hamlisch's last theatrical film score before his death in 2012.SPOILER WARNING.
The Informant!	fetched	2024-03-19T05:45:14Z
The Informant!	parsed	2024-03-19T05:45:14Z
The Informant!	processingComment	Dropped link to TheNineties: Not a Feature - IGNORE
The Informant!	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Informant! / int_1869b4b1	type	Unreliable Narrator
The Informant! / int_1869b4b1	comment	Unreliable Narrator: Mark is a mentally disturbed man with a lying disorder. It makes the Halfway Plot Switch from him being a "heroic informant" (although a moron), to a (still-moronic) opportunist that's only snitching on the executives to take their place, a hell of a twist.
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_1869b4b1
The Informant! / int_1b65dfad	type	The Cameo
The Informant! / int_1b65dfad	comment	The Cameo: Frank Welker as Whitacreâ€™s father.
The Informant! / int_1b65dfad	featureApplicability	1.0
The Informant! / int_1b65dfad	featureConfidence	1.0
The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_1b65dfad
The Informant! / int_222dc873	type	Black Comedy
The Informant! / int_222dc873	comment	Black Comedy: Whitacre is a complete and utter bumbling moron and Bad Liar, which makes the reveal that this made him Beneath Suspicion either incredibly surprising or incredibly absurd, not to mention that he still tries to bumble his way through multiple Blatant Lies afterwards.
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The Informant! / int_337a0f4	type	TrailersAlwaysLie
The Informant! / int_337a0f4	comment	Trailers Always Lie: The trailers for the movie greatly exaggerated the comedic lean of the movie. While it is humorous, it's more Coens-esque dark and deadpan than light-hearted and screwball (the trailers tout the movie as being from "The Director of Ocean's 11, 12, and 13"). It does help hide the film's narrative surprises regarding Whitacre later on, due to this being an obscure true story.
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The Informant! / int_3cb6468e	type	Bad Liar
The Informant! / int_3cb6468e	comment	Bad Liar: Mark is constantly guilty of this, especially audacious when his parents find out that he's been saying he's an orphan.
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_3cb6468e
The Informant! / int_53136954	type	Book Dumb
The Informant! / int_53136954	comment	Book Dumb: Inverted - Mark is extremely intelligent on paper with the epilogue even mentioning that he obtained two P.H.D.s while in prison, but in reality he's an utter moron.
The Informant! / int_53136954	featureApplicability	1.0
The Informant! / int_53136954	featureConfidence	1.0
The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_53136954
The Informant! / int_58f20f50	type	Minsky Pickup
The Informant! / int_58f20f50	comment	Minsky Pickup: Used several times in the score, preceded by a different lead-in from the standard one.
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_58f20f50
The Informant! / int_6b2b3b59	type	The Reveal
The Informant! / int_6b2b3b59	comment	The Reveal: Those odd inner monologues are a byproduct of his bipolar disorder and lying. Oh, and Mark is very much not an orphan.
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_6b2b3b59
The Informant! / int_72757e0d	type	"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer
The Informant! / int_72757e0d	comment	"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Current day employees of the ADM company received a formal letter at home urging them not to answer any questions regarding the subject matter of the movie, if they would receive any.
The Informant! / int_72757e0d	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Informant! / int_7e345221	type	Snowball Lie
The Informant! / int_7e345221	comment	Snowball Lie: Basically, Mark's entire life. For example, his story of being adopted came from how he wanted sympathy in college and kept it up. Scores of his other lies turn out the same, going from tiny fibs to wildly complex stories with Mark openly claiming it's the fault of others taking his tales so seriously.
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The Informant! / int_898ff050	type	Villain Protagonist
The Informant! / int_898ff050	comment	Villain Protagonist: Mark Whitacre, who we had been following for half of the film's runtime and considered a moron in over his head trying to take on Big Business for the sake of justice, turns out to be a moron in over his head that is trying to use the FBI to get rid of competition so he'll take over a company (or at least embezzle the shit out of it). The Reveal hits like a ton of bricks.
The Informant! / int_898ff050	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Informant! / int_8c92054d	type	Chaotic Stupid
The Informant! / int_8c92054d	comment	Chaotic Stupid: While he always believes that he's a Knight in Shining Armor kind of guy, the film shows Mark is this. He seriously thinks that once he embezzles and destroys the company he works for, by tossing the entire chain of command to the FBI, he will have the way free to take over it. Whitacre's own wife calls it an incredibly stupid idea when he tries to explain it to her.
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The Informant! / int_901046d2	type	The Informant
The Informant! / int_901046d2	comment	The Informant: Mark is an informant for two and a half years for the FBI. He claims to join them out of a guilty conscience about price fixing, but it's really a haphazard cover for an attempted takeover of the company or at least getting away with embezzling them.
The Informant! / int_901046d2	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Informant! / int_a2c7a31	type	Internal Reformist
The Informant! / int_a2c7a31	comment	Internal Reformist: Mark Whitacre starts the movie as a whistleblower. By the end of the movie his web of lies has become ridiculously tangled, and it turns out he had been embezzling money from the company for years.
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_a2c7a31
The Informant! / int_abad35b4	type	Soundtrack Dissonance
The Informant! / int_abad35b4	comment	Soundtrack Dissonance: The film score is mostly 60s-esque boppish ditties, like an early Woody Allen movie, while Mark's master embezzlement plan keeps unfolding; James Bond-ish motifs pop up when Mark is knee-deep in his spy fantasies.
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_abad35b4
The Informant! / int_afe98316	type	Talkative Loon
The Informant! / int_afe98316	comment	Talkative Loon: Whitacre often sounds like one in the voice-over narration. Fortunately for him, he holds it together a little better when talking to others.
The Informant! / int_afe98316	featureApplicability	1.0
The Informant! / int_afe98316	featureConfidence	1.0
The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_afe98316
The Informant! / int_affd30b0	type	Stupid Evil
The Informant! / int_affd30b0	comment	Stupid Evil: Mark. He's smart enough to be able to embezzle a company with nobody being the wiser (that it's him, at least). Then he decides it's not enough, and tries to become a false whistleblower so he can place the blame on the corporate management above him. And that's when his bumbling really does him in.
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_affd30b0
The Informant! / int_b77808f2	type	"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue
The Informant! / int_b77808f2	comment	"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Showing the sentences of those arrested.
The Informant! / int_b77808f2	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_b77808f2
The Informant! / int_b7f082b6	type	Logical Fallacies
The Informant! / int_b7f082b6	comment	Logical Fallacies: Even Mark's wife is dumbfounded on how Mark can believe he will run the company after whistleblowing on its price fixing. When he tries to rationalize it, she simply responds, "That's completely illogical."
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The Informant! / int_b7f082b6	featureConfidence	1.0
The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_b7f082b6
The Informant! / int_c4c9bb40	type	Inner Monologue
The Informant! / int_c4c9bb40	comment	Inner Monologue: Mark is constantly mentioning odd facts while other characters are talking. It's revealed to be what's going on in his head when his bipolar disorder and his habitual lying kicks in.
The Informant! / int_c4c9bb40	featureApplicability	1.0
The Informant! / int_c4c9bb40	featureConfidence	1.0
The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_c4c9bb40
The Informant! / int_caa28b82	type	Cloudcuckoolander
The Informant! / int_caa28b82	comment	Cloudcuckoolander: Whitacre's blabbermouth tendencies and foolishness put him right here.
The Informant! / int_caa28b82	featureApplicability	1.0
The Informant! / int_caa28b82	featureConfidence	1.0
The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_caa28b82
The Informant! / int_cbe687ab	type	Corrupt Corporate Executive
The Informant! / int_cbe687ab	comment	Corrupt Corporate Executive: This is a movie about them, and how they fixed the prices of high fructose corn syrup and other biochemicals. And Whitacre is probably worse than the lot of them.
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The Informant! / int_cbe687ab	featureConfidence	1.0
The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_cbe687ab
The Informant! / int_d34cbda2	type	Implausible Deniability
The Informant! / int_d34cbda2	comment	Implausible Deniability: Mark just will not let go of his lies, even when confronted by the truth.
The Informant! / int_d34cbda2	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Informant!	hasFeature	The Informant! / int_d34cbda2
The Informant! / int_f9f2c33	type	Running Gag
The Informant! / int_f9f2c33	comment	Running Gag: How much Mark says he embezzled rises as the film goes on, right to his very last lines. Mark's ridiculous (and ridiculously funny) inner monologues. Mark telling people his parents died in a car accident and he was taken in by an amusement park owner from Ohio. His parents are very much alive. And confused. People keep telling Mark not to talk to anyone else about the investigation, only for him to spill his guts to anyone who will listen in the next scene. In the latter half of the movie, it becomes clear to those paying close attention that Mark has started wearing a wig to hide the fact he's gone bald. By the end, he gives this up along with all his other lies (maybe).
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The Informant! / int_fe0330fb	type	Brick Joke
The Informant! / int_fe0330fb	comment	Brick Joke: The inner monologues come back with a vengeance. Also, the FBI agents admonish Whitacre for talking to the press about the investigation (which Whitacre still does). A few scenes later, the agents are talking to Ginger about Mark's well-being when one of the agents exasperatedly blurts out, "He's GOT to stop talking to people!".
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Informant!	hasFeature	And That's Terrible / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Believing Their Own Lies / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Excited Show Title! / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Inflationary Dialogue / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Internal Reformist / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Minsky Pickup / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Our Lawyers Advised This Trope / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	The '90s / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Too Clever by Half / int_7771422e
The Informant!	hasFeature	Trailer Joke Decay / int_7771422e

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