INSTEP Magzine

Ever met the person who lives in a bubble when everything else is going to the dogs? No? Then meet Matt Damon. 30 pounds overweight and relishing on such acting gimmicks as wearing a hairpiece, a mustache and steel-rimmed glasses, Damon is Mark Whitacre, the youngest president of the bio-products division and corporate executive at the agricultural conglomerate A.D.M. He appears to be outraged that A.D.M. is fixing prices with its Japanese competitors for lysine - an amino acid that goes into the corn-based foods that fill the aisles of American supermarkets. At dinner, he stares at his corn-fed chicken in disgust. Does he feel guilty about what he’s doing to the American diet or about the inflation of prices? He is, and through a byzantine plot twist early on in the film, Whitacre, naïvely excited, agrees with the FBI - Scott Bakula and Joel McHale- to wear a wire to meetings with his superiors and colleagues. The fact that during the most mundane and nervous moments of the movie, Whitacre will suddenly, take off into hilarious philosophical ruminations-about the inappropriateness of Japanese men in suits buying used girls’ panties on the street, polar-bear hunting techniques and poisonous butterflies- will tell you that the whistle blowing in The Informant is as far away from the angry confused lot of On The Waterfront, The Insider or even Soderbergh’s own Erin Brockovich as you can get.

Whitacre turns into a foolish risk-taker, a bumbling electrified nerd, who narrates into a tape recorder a stunningly undramatic entrance into the corporate headquarters. He even fiddles with the balky machine while company executives sit all around him. Somehow, no one at A.D.M catches on to him, and he gets results. The classic tale of the little guy taking down the big company or is it? Without divulging the plot, The Informant! takes such a U-turn that it might as well been called “The Man In the Bubble” or the “Art Of Lying” and you wouldn’t even notice.

Matt Damon’s curse, if you will, has been that in any role he plays, whether it’s his subtle performance in Syriana or his turn in the action packed Bourne Ultimatum franchise, he’s always had this boyish charm that’s gets in the way. That’s even true in The Informant! but this time because he’s so uglied up with his fake nose, large stomach and hilarious mustache that we are totally immersed in his physical performance and while any other actor in such a role would go all out and chew the scenery, Damon does just the opposite and that’s why its such a wonderful performance.

Steven Soderbergh is perhaps the most erratic of American directors. Soderbergh, with various degrees of success, from making deeply personal digs at the human psyche like Sex, Lies And Videotape, Full Frontal and the remake of Solaris to crowd pleasers such as Out Of Sight and the Oceans films and heavy handedness like the four-hour plus Che, hasn’t visited the land of black comedy -without sugar- since Schizopolis

The Informant! is a farce played totally straight, well almost. Everything except the performances is up for laughs, from Marvin Hamlisch’s score, full of comedic cues that arrive at total unexpected moments, the garishly ugly orange hue that befalls on the characters as if they are going to self-destruct at any moment to the bright 60s style fonts that come and go. Because of Scott.Z Burns’s wonderful script and Soderbergh’s economical style of direction the other performances are also first rate. Scott Bakula, with all the lines on his face clearly etched out, is painfully professional as his FBI contact, many others-including Tom Wilson, Joel McHale, and Tom Papa - are standup comedians and they give their lines slightly tongue in cheek inflections-a pause, a smile, a tic-that knock the scenes off kilter.

The Informant! might not be to everyone’s taste. It’s a terrifically offhanded film, its laughs so tightly controlled that there might barely be a sound of you laughing, but it tells a largely-based-on-truth tale of corporate crime and punishment and personal illusions and reminds us that illusions, specially the ones that are based on one’s self are sometimes extremely silly, most often of all, in fact, when we think they’re deadly serious.

— Ali Sultan

It’s Complicated***
*ing: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin
Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Tagline: First comes marriage.
Then comes divorce. And then…

Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin… the A-list leading cast of It’s Complicated is probably the main reason why movie buffs all over the world will flock to see this movie at least once. Beyond the stellar performances of the lead actors, though, the movie really doesn’t have much to offer.

The plot of It’s Complicated is certainly not complicated enough to be hilariously funny or poignantly sad or even schmaltzy enough to warrant as an all-time great chick flick. The story is predictable and some of the scenes are long drawn-out. One would expect better from writer-director Nancy Meyers of Something’s Gotta Give and The Holiday fame. It’s Complicated is, to some extent, a discerning, cleverly written story about aging, heartbreak and love. However, one can’t help but feel that Meyers is wrapped in a surreal, warm, fuzzy world of her own. Her characters may supposedly be heartsick but they certainly seem cheery enough as they live in glossy suburban homes, blithely cavorting around town while the money keeps flowing in thanks to their highly successful careers. They cheat on their spouses, get stoned and, at the ripe old age of 50, have suitors clamoring for their attentions. Very flippant, very upbeat – also very unbelievable.

The movie revolves around Jane Adler, played by Meryl Streep. Jane has been divorced for 10 years, runs a thriving bakery and lives in a sumptuous home complete with massive kitchen and a garden filled with ripe red tomatoes. She has three grown-up children who have moved out yet seem to be visiting her all the time. She also has a coterie of girlfriends who dote on her. Like all girls, they have cozy little wine-drinking parties where they share dirty secrets and crack jokes. One of these girlfriends is – surprise, surprise – Rita Wilson, who has made a career out of starring in nonsensical bit parts in chick flicks. Despite her apparently active social life, Jane confesses to feeling lonely.

Enter Jake, the guileful yet somehow likeable ex-husband, played by Alec Baldwin. Jake cheated on Jane 10 years ago and after divorcing her, ended up marrying his younger, vivacious mistress. The mistress subsequently ran off with some random guy, had his child, and then returned to live with Jake. Even though Jake’s wife, played by Lake Bell, is much younger - not to mention scantily clad – you can tell from the first scene on that Jake still has feelings for Jane.

On a visit to New York, Jane and Jake end up at the same hotel, get drunk, dance together and commence a nefarious, secret affair. Hence, the ‘complications’ begin. It turns out that things aren’t all hunky-dory at Jake’s marital home. His enfant terrible stepson gets on his nerves and his wife is pushing him off to fertility clinics because she wants a second child. With Jane, he feels he has ‘come home’. Jane, on the other hand, feels guilty though her guilt would be easier to fathom if she would act a little less chipper. Streep’s character can’t stop smiling and giggling. This may be Meyer’s way of keeping the story lighthearted but it also makes Jane’s character all the less plausible.

The two exes meet on the sly, hiding from their children, Jake’s ex-wife and the world in general, until they can figure out where their relationship is headed. And then enters Steve Martin as Adam, an architect who vibes well with the already confused Jane, complicating both her life and the film further.

The plot goes through convoluted, sometimes funny, twists and turns as Jane tries to fend off her irrepressible erstwhile husband, salvage her budding romance with Adam and make clarifications to her children. The children, by the way, seem to be right out of Sesame Street, albeit all grown up. They cry at a moment’s notice, stare at their parents with gullible, wide eyes every now and then, have an affinity towards hugging each other and spread the joy and cheer by throwing grandiose parties in their – of course – grandiose homes.

To do the movie justice, Myers probably didn’t intend It’s Complicated to be a work of art anyway. So what if the plot isn’t entirely believable? The posh interiors and skittish, affluent characters are great eye-candy. The story may not be side-splittingly funny but it is enjoyable enough with a few laughs here and there.
In spite of the glaringly obvious faults in the storyline, It’s Complicated has still managed to garner two Golden Globe nominations. The saving grace of the movie is definitely the performances of its lead actors. If the lead roles had been played by less talented actors, the movie would have disappeared without a whimper but Streep, Baldwin and Martin have breathed life into the ordinary plot, making it something worthwhile.

Meryl Streep is at her winsome best. Her role echoes her recent performances in Mamma Mia! and Julie & Julia and is sure to be enjoyed by her fans. Steve Martin may have less screen time than the other two protagonists but his portrayal of Adam is spot-on. My personal favourite, though, is Alec Baldwin’s Jake. Jake, with his Cheshire-cat smile, large waistline and shameless antics is odious yet endearingly funny. Baldwin has based most of his career on acting as the bad guy and he, very naturally, makes a perfect Jake.

Watch It’s Complicated if you’re in the mood for some vacuous, frivolous entertainment. You could also watch it if you’re a Meryl Streep or an Alec Baldwin fan – perhaps not if you’re a Steve Martin fan. But don’t expect it to be the sort of movie you’ll remember one year down the line.

— Maliha Rehman

*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOM