Rating less than zero on the sophistication scale, The Informers is thus a totally faithful adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel--and an accurate look at early '80s-era Los Angeles.
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09/01/09
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The Informers (2009)
14
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:99
Fresh:14
Rotten:85
Average Rating:3.6/10
Consensus: As miserable and insipid as its protagonists, The Informers fails to provide anything to think about after the sheen of fake blond is gone.
Rated: R [See Full Rating]
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Apr 24, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: In such works as Less Than Zero and American Psycho Brett Easton Ellis brilliantly dissects contemporary American society, a culture in which too much is never enough. Now, adapting his own... [More]
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder
Director: Gregor Jordan
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Reviews for The Informers
Top CriticImagine American Psycho with less violence but more nudity, transplanted from New York to California and stripped of all self-awareness. That's The Informers.
08/30/09
...a ninety-eight-minute snooze-fest.
08/23/09
bleak, boring and bloated.
08/10/09
It has a good cast and a terrific 1980s soundtrack (Devo, Simple Minds), but it also has the superficiality of a TV soap. The Informers is not so bad that you can’t sit back and enjoy it, but nor is it good enough to go and see.
07/24/09
In structure and location the film resembles Robert Altman's Short Cuts, though it's much inferior and far less interesting.
07/24/09
While it's an occasionally unsettling piece - and comes with a big-name cast - the story never goes anywhere.
07/24/09
We may not care about these cokeheads, but only rarely does Jordan fall into knee-jerk retribution.
07/17/09
A lurid, soapy, moralistic melodrama so mucky you'll need a shower.
07/17/09
Directed by Gregor Jordan, Ellis’s aimlessly dissolute collection of stories just doesn’t hang together as a coherent whole.
07/17/09
There is a weird, almost comic absence of insight and perspective here. But it is a joke without humour and without a punchline.
07/17/09
This self-penned adaptation of his 1994 short story collection - a period piece set in 1983 Los Angeles - has supposedly been cut to ribbons, and it shows.
07/17/09
Jordan gives all this an entirely appropriate sheen and the cast play well through glazed eyes. The film will fascinate those who love to see the tormented lives of those who seem luckier than the rest of us.
07/17/09
Failing to work on so many levels, The Informers operates as a time capsule of 1983 and a time when substance was negated in favour of style. Sadly, this movie is severely lacking in both of those departments.
07/17/09
For diehard Ellis completists only.
07/17/09
It's an empty shell entertaining a nasty streak of misogyny, a single note ensemble piece that's very much less than zero.
07/17/09
This film is bad - really, really bad.
07/17/09
A star-studded mess.
07/17/09
Bret Easton Ellis pens a mean tale, in all adjectival senses. His prose is artfully maleficent; he is a laid-back Severus Snape of the sex-and-drugs generation. You need a smarter directing hand, though, than Gregor Jordan’s.
07/17/09
Director Gregor Jordan seems to have gone into reverse since his 2001 Buffalo Soldiers, aiming for the LA rondeau of Altman's Short Cuts but missing all the vital ingredients – wit, humanity, charm, nuance and meaning.
07/17/09
Latest News for The Informers
August 24, 2009:
RT on DVD: Exclusive Informers clip, Dungeons & Dragons, and more!
This week in home releases, we have a Bret Easton Ellis adaptation (The Informers, which we present with an exclusive clip), a classy Criterion release (The Last Days of Disco),... More...
April 24, 2009:
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April 23, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Fighting Is Down For The Count
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January 16, 2009:
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