Based on the book by Kurt Eichenwald. What was Mark Whitacre thinking? A rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Whitacre suddenly turns whistleblower. Even as he exposes his company's multi-national price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, Whitacre envisions himself being hailed as a hero of the common man and handed a promotion. But before all that can happen, the FBI needs evidence, so Whitacre eagerly agrees to wear a wire and carry a hidden tape recorder in his briefcase, imagining himself as a kind of de facto secret agent. Unfortunately for the FBI, their lead witness hasn't been quite so forthcoming about helping himself to the corporate coffers. Whitacre's ever-changing account frustrates the agents and threatens the case against ADM as it becomes almost impossible to decipher what is real and what is the product of Whitacre's rambling imagination. Based on the true story of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history.This movie was both better and worst than I expected. Make sense? Lets try to explain. I think this movie suffered from really bad marketing. I was expecting it to be a lot more blatantly funny. This is in no way a normal comedy. The ads went out of their way to make it look like a witty laugh fest like Ocean's 11, 12 and 13. Its not. However, it is a very good dark comedy. The bottom line is that this dude was nuts. He couldn't stop lying. You find yourself laughing at how out of control everything was getting when it is in fact horribly sad that this guy just can't stop himself. There was a while there where I couldn't tell what was a lie and what was true. I enjoyed watching him spiral out of control but then genuinely felt bad for him when he hit rock bottom . . . . . only to be laughing at it all again just before the movie ended. The narration by Matt Damon throughout the movie was the best part of the movie. Especially at points when he's mid lie and starts wondering about indoor pools or where he should buy his ties only to snap out of it and keep the lie going.
I really enjoyed this movie but think that its marketing campaign hurt it big time. If you can go in to the movie knowing what it really is about, you would probably really enjoy this movie.
