"THE INFORMERS" (2009) (Jon Foster, Austin Nichols) (R)
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QUICK TAKE:
Drama: The lives of various spoiled, self-centered, narcissistic and unhappy people intersect in 1980s era Los Angeles.
PLOT:
It's Los Angeles in 1983 and William Sloan (BILLY BOB THORNTON) is a successful movie producer who's decided to get back with his estranged wife, Laura (KIM BASINGER). Yet, he's doing so in order to avoid a costly divorce, and clearly plans on continuing to see his lover, TV newscaster Cheryl Moore (WINONA RYDER), although she clearly wants nothing to do with him anymore.
The same seems to hold true for William and Laura's young adult son, Graham (JON FOSTER), and his sister, Susan (CAMERON GOODMAN). While she's grounded, he's a spoiled rich kid who's upset that his equally spoiled girlfriend, Christie (AMBER HEARD), has also been sleeping with Martin (AUSTIN NICHOLS), music video director whose latest work features rocker Bryan Metro (MEL RAIDO), a troubled singer whose manager, Roger (RHYS IFANS), keeps a watchful eye on him and his career.
It turns out, however, that not only is Martin sleeping with Christie, but he's also sexually involved with Graham and, unbeknownst to him, his mother as well. The encounters with Christie take place in her apartment where the night doorman and aspiring actor, Jack (BRAD RENFRO), isn't pleased that his uncle Peter (MICKEY ROURKE) is staying at his place with teenage runaway Mary (ANGELA SARAFYAN). Things get worse when Peter kidnaps a young boy and holds him hostage in Jack's place, awaiting a sale of the boy to some unsavory types.
At the same time, Graham's friend, Tim (LOU TAYLOR PUCCI), isn't pleased that his playboy dad, Les Price (CHRIS ISAAK), has dragged him off to Hawaii and tries to pick up women with him. As the various characters' stories unfold, they end up playing out and intersecting in ways they hadn't imagined.
OUR TAKE: 4 out of 10
In general, most folks don't like being in the actual presence of vain, narcissistic, ultra-absorbed or generally unsavory people. Yet, at the same time, they don't always mind being in their company when they appear as fictional characters on the big or small screen. After all, entertainment is littered with such types that, despite common sense, turn out to be viewer favorites, even if such consumers won't always admit to such unlikely fondness.
Taking that sentiment to the extreme, "The Informers" -- the fourth novel by author Bret Easton Ellis to make it to the big screen following 1987's "Less Than Zero," 2000's "American Psycho," and 2002's "Rules of Attraction" -- should be a veritable smorgasbord of unlikable characters for such viewers.
And that's because the film is filled to the brim with nothing but that, and viewers -- at least in theory -- could pick their faves from a wide and varied offering. There's the rich TV producer (Billy Bob Thornton) who's having an affair with a TV newscaster (Winona Ryder) and thus cheating on his wife (Kim Basinger).
But she's not depressed enough that she can't be having a torrid affair with a music video director (Austin Nichols) who -- when not creating product for a self-absorbed rocker (Mel Raido) -- is sleeping with the above wife's son (Jon Foster) and his promiscuous girlfriend (Amber Heard).
Throw in the son's friend and fellow drug dealer (Lou Taylor Pucci) who hates his lecherous and rich father (Chris Isaak), a lowlife (Mickey Rourke) who kidnaps kids with a teen runaway (Angela Sarafyan) to sell them to types less savory than him, and a host of other spoiled and/or damaged souls (including Brad Renfro in his last role), and the film is teeming with enough vermin of varying colors and stripes to fill several movies and TV shows.
All of which turns out to be the film's undoing. Beyond there simply being too many characters for the film's 100-some minute runtime (meaning few get any sort of fleshing out to any decent extent), there's nobody to care about and/or root for. Sure, some will hope for one or more of them to get their richly deserved comeuppance (and a few do), but none of it's satisfying on any level.
Director Gregor Jordan gives all of it a glossy veneer, but simply can't wrangle all of the characters and their storylines that, shock of all shocks, are related in one way or another with the rest. For Ellis, he certainly can't complain about how his work has been adapted as he co-authored the screenplay with Nicholas Jarecki.
While I haven't read the source material, I have heard that its structure (mini stories with different narrators) has been altered somewhat, including the jettisoning of all of the vampire material (yes, you read that correctly).
Considering the latter are the literal and metaphorical representation of vain (and vein) blood-suckers, I can understand the desire to include them in the original literary work, if anything just to add to the satire of what went wrong with the "me" generation (the film is set in 1980s era Los Angeles, with drugs, casual sex and AIDS running rampant).
Yet, such satire is what's sorely missing in the filmed version. It also lacks the solid acting that made "Less Than Zero" good, the fascinating but ultra disturbing character that fueled "American Psycho" and the directorial flourishes that made "Rules of Attraction" so much fun to watch.
The common connecting theme of self-indulgence and deteriorating social mores of those works is undeniably present here. And between all of the Ray-bans and a dying character muttering "There's no more sun," there's little doubt about its stance on the brightness or lack thereof for the characters' futures. Yet, it all feels trite and decidedly less than interesting or engaging this fourth time around.
While an unsavory character or two can spruce up a regular film in terms of making it compelling, the utter preponderance of them in "The Informers" makes one feel like they've been overrun by pestilent rats, cockroaches and such, with a good pesticide and hosing down clearly in order. The film rates as a 4 out of 10.
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