The Informers Masters Content

The Informers as a novel is widely considered not up to par with his other works - and film adaptations - such as Less Than Zero and American Psycho. So why make a movie based on a book that isn't considered memorable? One reason may probably be the cult following of Ellis fans and a second reason would be to address an audience who wouldn't mind to see a film that contains sex, drugs, and no video tapes; but plenty of mind boggling plots for your little insignificant life to grasp. This is Ellis' reoccurring theme in all of his works that masterfully translates The Informers from print to screen.

The Informers is about a Hollywood movie producer William (Billy Bob Thorton), his druggy wife Laura (Kim Basinger), their drug dealing rich son Graham (Jon Foster), his sluttish girlfriend Christie (Amber Heard), their threesome buddy Martin (Austin Nichols), his video shoot with the coke head lead singer of an 80s rockband , Bryan Metro (Mel Raido), and William is cheating on Laura with local news anchor Cheryl Laine (Winona Ryder). Each of these characters (including more characters as well) are joined by the death of a friend who brings these meaningless lives of excess together into a mound of lust, drugs, and existentialism.

Yes, these stories are all separate within their own rights and may seem confusing, but a major unifying theme that was cut from the film adaptation is the presence of a possible vampire played by Brandon Routh (Superman Returns). Bret Easton Ellis has spoke about the film's changes in direction as well as directors with Fox News stating, "It's hard to tell now, but it was supposed to be like criminals and vampires and girls and young people. There were things I recognized, and a lot that I missed. But it's the director's version of the script, and that's just how it is."

The Informers has been receiving scathing reviews from critics everywhere. The New York Times' A.O. Scott writes on rottentomatoes.com that "The performances run the gamut from twitchy to catatonic, and the stoned stiffness of the actors seems to have less to do with the affectlessness of the characters than with their own confusion." I would have argue that Brad Renfro's role as a hotel receptionist and nephew of criminal Mickey Rourke was substantially well; granted, not everyone will go to a movie to see his last performance. Renfro's character was the only humanist aspect to the very self-involved tale of L.A. man-whores, drug-dealers, and slut-buckets. Of course, this is a film based on Ellis' work; this is expected.

What The Informersultimately accomplishes is the creation of a mosaic using pieces of different stories that create a big picture where the sinless women always die and the sinful men continue to run rampant. Because of these instances, The Informers follows the similar trend of film-making based on Ellis' work which could be argued as a repeat. Then again, we can always wait for Imperial Bedrooms - the sequel to Less Than Zero - and maybe catch a glimpse of Robert Downey Jr. returning to cocaine where the critics can write "It's Life Imitating Art, Imitating Life" to then receive a Pulitzer or something.