GRADE: B+

With corporate scandals a common occurrence these days, no one will be shocked to learn about the true life tale of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) whistle-blower Mark Whitacre, who’s surreal, pathological and often hilarious antics brought the multinational agricultural commodities giant to its knees over an illegal worldwide price-fixing conspiracy.

Whitacre, a brilliant and highly-educated biochemist, was president of ADM’s hugely profitable bio-products division. Quirky, hyper and a bit eccentric, Whitacre was the youngest division chief in the company’s long history; a rising star many predicted would someday run the whole kit-and-caboodle.

I used the word surreal in my description of Whitacre, but it also applies to director Steven Soderbergh’s latest creation, the whipsaw comedy-drama that purports to tell his story. It’s really more comedy than drama as “The Informant!” is not a self-righteous, serious toned affair along the lines of Michael Mann’s “The Insider,” which told the story of one man’s crusade against the tobacco industry in near humorless terms.

What’s at stake in “The Informant!” does not necessarily involve anyone’s death or even any substantive public health concerns. Instead, this is a story that can be summed up in three words—money, money, money.

With so much money at stake, billions of dollars to be precise, it’s no wonder (though no excuse) that so many people started getting crazy. From the insiders at ADM, including Whitacre, to the hungry-to-make-a-case FBI and Justice Department; from the multitude of lawyers and accountants to the chief executives and their minions at companies throughout the world, everyone wanted something, and whatever that something was, they wanted to be on top of it.

If much of this sounds vague, it’s partly because so much of the fun in this film comes from the steady pace of changing developments that Whitacre’s informing brings with it, making what at first looks to be a straightforward path into one of the most convoluted and serpentine corporate, legal and personal journeys imaginable.

Craziest of all is the fact that this funny, well-directed exercise is not only based on a true story, it is the real story, a historically accurate portrayal of the increasingly unbelievable events surrounding the long drawn out case, which some viewers will recall from the news at the time.

Matt Damon is terrific as Whitacre, a perfect combination of brilliance and naiveté, of polish and clumsiness; part Robin Hood, part Sheriff of Nottingham. As the beleaguered FBI agent shepherding him through years of investigations, Scott Bakula has never been better, turning in a quiet but effective performance that’s funny and three-dimensional.

Soderbergh again acts as his own cinematographer under his oft-used moniker, Peter Andrews, and both the look of the film and its direction are first-rate, consistently clever and creative, with a minimum of fuss and little or no excess.

“The Informant!” is an excellent film, with Scott Z. Burns’ caustic and occasionally off-the-wall script a delight from beginning to end. The only queer thing about watching it comes from the film's inability to shock—no matter how gross the negligence or transgression depicted—the byproduct of our having become so used to the notion of corporate malfeasance.

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