KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsCritic's Corner: "The Informant"

Critic's Corner: "The Informant"

The Matt Damon who dashes around the world as the silent spy Jason Bourne is nowhere to be found in "The Informant."

Instead, he's replaced by a guy who's 30 pounds heavier and never stops talking.

A good fit?

This might be one of the actor's best.

In the new film from Steven Soderbergh, Damon plays an executive at Archer Daniels Midland who agrees to cooperate with the FBI about a possible price-fixing scheme.

He tapes conversations, films meetings and provides information the feds need to crack the case wide open.

Never mind that the guy is a big doofus who could be exposed at any minute.

To add to the fun, Soderbergh lets us hear what he's thinking at all times.

So in addition to the neat little spy work, we get a rolling monologue about everything from tuna to polar bears.

Marvin Hamlisch has provided a great upbeat score and several comedians turn up as various executives and government officials.

But it's Damon as that naive executive who makes this work.

Even though he's a great action hero, the actor's best work could be in films like this.

Tell everyone, "The Informant" is the film that will make Matt Damon.

He's just that good.

On our four-star scale, "The Informant" gets:

3 1/2 stars.