The Informant!

Steven Soderbergh’s latest shrewdly tells the true story of a corporate whistleblower who does a miserable, yet strangely effective, job helping the FBI investigate an international price-fixing scheme. Soderbergh wants to be more funny than dramatic in his depiction of an actual corporate crime that occurred in the 1990s. Thanks to an understated and hilarious performance from Matt Damon, he succeeds. Damon plays Mark Whitacre, putting on 30 pounds for the role and providing some hilarious narration. Whitacre eventually went to jail for executing some crimes of his own while supposedly helping the FBI expose his coworkers. Soderbergh mines the ridiculous story for nasty laughs, and it’s the right move. During this investigation, Mark Whitacre was a manipulative, sneaky and smug son of a bitch. Thanks to Damon, he’s a highly entertaining tragicomic figure.