Sony Pictures | 2009 | 98 mins | Rated R
Like much of his writing, Bret Easton Ellis’ 1994 book The Informers, is a collection of loosely connected vignettes about unsupervised, unmotivated wealthy teens. In this case, it’s 1983 Los Angeles; the money and drugs are flowing. Everyone is having sex (both heterosexual and homosexual), with whomever they please. Knee deep in early eighties kitsch, the film is awash in Ray-Bans, Calvin Klein, shoulder pads and bad blonde highlights. Things begin at a trendy L.A, house party, where a gaggle of pretty people are indulging in casual drugs and casual sex. Within minutes, we see someone get hit by a car and die.
Ordinarily, a terrible incident like this would be the spark for the storyline. However, since The Informers has no real discernable plot, the death simply serves as a vehicle to introduce several of the main players in this mess. A major focus of the story is Graham (Jon Foster). Good looking and drug addled, he begins to reexamine his life, between parties and assorted drug binges. He realizes he loves his girlfriend Christie (Amber Heard) however; this revelation causes issues because she sometimes sleeps with Graham’s best friend Martin (Austin Nichols) and Graham sometimes sleeps with Martin. Okay, so it’s a stretch to say Graham reexamines his life…
Meanwhile, Graham’s father William Sloan (Billy Bob Thornton) a studio executive, is hoping to get repair his marriage and family. He and his wife Laura (Kim Basinger) split up after he began a torrid affair with a young newscaster (Winona Ryder). Completely devastated, his wife began popping pills and engaged in her own steamy affair with Graham’s friend, Martin. Despite his desire to get to know his family again, William is unable to forget the newscaster, his wife has been largely destroyed by pills and drink and his kids despise him.
Martin is a video director (and prostitute), whose working on a project with British rocker Bryan Metro (Mel Raido), who looks sort of like a washed up Billy Idol. He’s come to Los Angeles with the vague feeling he’s lived there before and the desire to sleep with as many teenage boys and girls as possible. In his rare moments of lucidity, he desperately calls his ex-wife on the phone in an effort to talk to his son.
But wait! There’s one more group of pretty people. Graham, Martin, and Christie have a friend–the only friend none of them have sex with, apparently–named Tim (Lou Taylor Pucci), who is being dragged on a Hawaiian vacation with his philandering jerk of a father, Les (Chris Isaak). Do you care, anymore?
At the same time, Jack, the doorman at Christie’s apartment (Brad Renfro) has his own set of problems. His uncle Peter (Mickey Rourke) shows up unannounced with an underage girl in tow. Peter has a troublesome plan to pay off some gambling debts–kidnap a kid and sell him for a few thousand dollars. Jack’s only connection to the rich people is that they occasionally say hello to him, as they glide through the lobby of the building. Even though his character is sadly underdeveloped, Renfro manages to give the strongest performance in the film, despite limited screen time.
From what I’ve read, the film–whose screenplay was whose screenplay was co-written, with Nicholas Jarecki, by Ellis himself–was originally supposed to be a satire of the eighties excesses. There was even a subplot with Brandon Routh as a vampire! Apparently, the script was originally 150 pages and it was cut down to 94, before film began. The production changed directors early on, too, with Jarecki replaced by Gregor Jordan (Buffalo Soldiers), who evidently did not share Jarecki and Ellis’ vision. Perhaps the actors were embarrassed by Jordan’s interpretation of the material, because there are several fine actors and actors involved here and all of them look like they phoned in their work.
As it is, The Informers is pointless and boring. If you want to see a good Bret Easton Ellis adaptation, buy a copy of American Psycho and leave The Informers in the bargain bin, where it belongs.
The Informers comes to Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer framed in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The look is rather drab, often bathed in shadows, dark grays, blues, and blacks, and with many dark colored backgrounds that reinforce the depressing tone of the film. Some of the brightest exterior scenes tend to be the best looking moments of the film. Fine detail is solid throughout but won’t overly impress longtime Blu-ray viewers; everything from faces to background objects look fine but nothing pops out. Black levels are good and flesh tones remain a natural shade. The Informers sports a light layer of grain. The print is free of any noticeable debris.
The Informers sports a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. While it does a fine job, nothing about the presentation will blow viewers away. The Informers is primarily a dialogue-driven motion picture and the dialogue is delivered crisply and clearly. There’s a fairly good sense of atmosphere and space to be found throughout. The fairly subdued score is delivered about as well as one might expect, each note playing with a solid clarity The Informers’ lossless soundtrack serves the movie well enough.
The Informers offers just a couple fairly standard special features:
• An Audio Commentary with Director Gregor Jordan and Actors Jon Foster and Lou Taylor Pucci: They spend a lot of time discussing changes to the original script and how that changed their approach to the film.
• Human Intersections: Making The Informers (1080i, 15:26) features cast and crew speaking on several subjects, including Bret Easton Ellis’ body of work, translating the novel to the screen, the film’s themes, its performances and more.
• BD-Live functionality.
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