The Informers (2009)
Average Rating: 3.6/10
Reviews Counted: 104
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 90
As miserable and insipid as its protagonists, The Informers fails to provide anything to think about after the sheen of fake blond is gone.
Average Rating: 3.2/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 27
As miserable and insipid as its protagonists, The Informers fails to provide anything to think about after the sheen of fake blond is gone.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.3/5
User Ratings: 18,141
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Movie Info
A collection of Bret Easton Ellis' short stories are adapted for the screen by Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki and helmed by Gregor Jordan in The Informers, a Senator Entertainment ensemble film featuring Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, and Winona Ryder. The film observes the goings-on during a week in Los Angeles in 1983, with many intersecting characters including a kidnapper, movie executives, rock stars, and other freewheeling, morally loose individuals. Austin Nichols, Jon Foster, and Amber
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Cast
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Billy Bob Thornton
William Sloan -
Kim Basinger
Laura Sloan -
Winona Ryder
Cheryl Moore -
Jon Foster
Graham Sloan -
Amber Heard
Christie -
Mickey Rourke
Peter -
Austin Nichols
Martin -
Lou Taylor Pucci
Tim -
Fernando Consagra
Bruce -
Aaron Himelstein
Raymond -
Mel Raido
Bryan Metro -
Rhys Ifans
Roger -
German Tripel
Bryan's Guitarist -
Brad Renfro
Jack -
Suzanne Ford
Bruce's Mother -
Cameron Goodman
Susan Sloan -
Angela Sarafyan
Mary -
Chris Isaak
Les Price -
Diego Leske
Gary Gray -
Katy Mixon
Patty -
Stefanie Neukirch
Darlene -
Peter Scanavino
Leon -
Theo Rossi
Spaz -
Daniel Rosenberg
Rocko -
Jessica Stroup
Rachel -
Brady Matthews
Maitre D' -
Jeannette O'Connor
Canter's Waitress -
Simone Kessell
Nina Metro -
Milena Arango
Miss Nebraska -
Diego Klattenhoff
Dirk
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All Critics (104) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (92) | DVD (5)
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.
Top CriticWe may not care about these cokeheads, but only rarely does Jordan fall into knee-jerk retribution.
This just felt like a bunch of people in 1980s L.A. with blonde streaks in their hair listening to Wang Chung.
Gorgeous people and some well written dialogue aren't enough to make this a movie you should see.
It's by far the most slack, ho-hum movie ever made from Ellis' material.
The Informers is a movie so seamy it makes you want to take a bath afterward. Rarely has so much sin seemed so boring.
Heaven protect us from any more Bret Easton Ellis versions of Tales of the Empty Lives of Los Angeles.
Brad Renfro in his last movie role, playing a wannabe film actor who sprays out filthy perspiration like a collie emerging from a sewer. It's possible this role killed Renfro.
Imagine American Psycho with less violence but more nudity, transplanted from New York to California and stripped of all self-awareness. That's The Informers.
It's hard to say who was most at fault for the film's failure. (Blu-ray Edition)
...a ninety-eight-minute snooze-fest.
In the buff naughty boobs 'n buns bad parenting sex and drug addiction romp. And a weird cry for help cinema probing wasted LA youth without adult supervision in sight. Though with sly hints on where all those hallucinatory Hollywood plots arise.
bleak, boring and bloated.
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.
In structure and location the film resembles Robert Altman's Short Cuts, though it's much inferior and far less interesting.
While it's an occasionally unsettling piece - and comes with a big-name cast - the story never goes anywhere.
A lurid, soapy, moralistic melodrama so mucky you'll need a shower.
Directed by Gregor Jordan, Ellis's aimlessly dissolute collection of stories just doesn't hang together as a coherent whole.
There is a weird, almost comic absence of insight and perspective here. But it is a joke without humour and without a punchline.
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.
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.
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.
For diehard Ellis completists only.
Audience Reviews for The Informers
Good cast including Winona Ryder, (although that girl needs to eat a few sandwiches, I was shocked by how gaunt she looks) and Kim Basinger. Some characters are more likeable than others and, yes, the ending is abrupt,as some have commented, but I think it says it all. I liked it, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to all.
Super Reviewer
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- William Sloan: Were a family again.
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- Susan Sloan: Nice Shirt.
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Latest News on 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...
April 23, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Fighting Is Down For The CountThis week at the movies, weve got bare-knuckle bouts (Fighting, starring Channing Tatum and Terrence...
January 15, 2009:
(Red Band) Trailer Bulletin: The InformersSenator Entertainment has released your first extended look at its Gregor Jordan-directed adaptation...
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