Kim Basinger Movie:

		List Price: $34.95		Label: Senator Salesrank: 17507 Released: August 25, 2009
		Our Price: $18.98
		Used Price: $11.79
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
BillyBobThornton,KimBasinger,MickeyRourk
Item Type: BLU-RAY DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 08/25/09
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve

Description of The Informers [Blu-ray]:
The Informers follows the hollow, toxic lives of the privileged and the deprived in 1980s Los Angeles. A movie producer (Billy Bob Thornton) can’t decide between his ex-wife (Kim Basinger) and his local news-anchor girlfriend (Winona Ryder); a cockney rock star finds underage sex partners are the only thing that distracts him from his drug-fueled ennui; a blond young man (Lou Taylor Pucci) loathes his boozy father (Chris Isaak) but goes to Hawaii with him anyway; another blond young man (Jon Foster) grows uncomfortable with the group sex he and his beautiful girlfriend (Amber Heard, who has more nude scenes than lines of dialogue) keep having; and a neurotic doorman (Brad Renfro, in what is sadly his last role) has an intimidating house guest (Mickey Rourke) who’s a human trafficker. This is a movie in which playing Pat Benatar at a funeral is a symbol of emptiness; a movie in which beautiful people respond to vague unhappiness by becoming emotionally inert; a movie in which glossy depictions of sex and drug use are intended to capture ineffable angst and alienation. It is, in short, a movie based on a Bret Easton Ellis novel, this time with a screenplay written by Ellis himself. Regrettably, it has neither the vapid but energetic editing of The Rules of Attraction nor the vulnerable face of Robert Downey, Jr., from Less Than Zero. Pucci (Thumbsucker) provides some sympathetic charisma. Also featuring Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill) as the predatory rock star’s bored manager. --Bret Fetzer

The Informers [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Not as bad as it's made out to be
2009-12-14 - The Bottom Line:

The title of this review is about as much of a recommendation as there could ever be for The Informers, a tepid ensemble cast story from Bret Easton Ellis that follows multiple storylines in 1980s Los Angeles; it moves quickly, has some good bits of period detail--note how everyone is wearing Raybans since it takes place right after Risky Business came out--and one or two of the threads have scenes of genuine interest, but it's too short, doesn't come together at the end and really isn't worth any time or money.

2.5/4

How did it happen
2009-12-02 - Sorry, I can't manage a long treatse on this film.

What I want to know is how in the heck you make a movie about the 80s, sex, drugs, rock n'roll, the film industry, and human trafficking - and make it boring. As a viewer you find yourself perplexed because on one hand you are bored to the point of crying, but you can't turn it off because a cast this good and a topic that should be this engaging being this boring just doesn't mentally compute.

I loved American Psycho, and I tend to enjoy artsy films... but this one really bored the living crap out of me. No story what-so-ever, just vignettes of people with a ton of money being miserable... but they aren't even miserable with purpose. There is no enlightenment, no "ah ha" moment where you are left feeling that things are going to turn around. No one learns in this film, they are just shallow, self absorbed and miserable. If I want to watch people make bad choices with their life I'll go visit a relative or a neighbor.

What is sad is that the acting is really spectacular - unfortunately the characters don't do anything.

Avoid this film if you have to pay for it or value your time.

A WASTE OF TIME
2009-12-02 - There is no reason to go near this film.
Weak writing, contrived scenes make
this an embarrassment to most involved.
The score is really the only thing that
holds this movie together.

the informers
2009-11-29 - Let's do this by the numbers:
1. Even as a low budget film, it should have a plot somewhere.
2. Even as a low budget film, there should be enough clothes for the performers to
wear, even if occasionally.
3. Even as a low budget film, it could have cost even less if the use of all the
four letter words and other obscenities were deleted.
4. How bad was this? Well, I would not even donate it to the seediest retailer for
fear that it might be purchased by someone under the age of 25 and think that
this was reality.
5. Indeed, I will remove the artwork, bisect the dvd with a scissor and trust that
I will find a suitable dvd to place in the case and hope it will not become
contaminated.

California dreaming
2009-11-13 - It is hard to make an interesting movie about Hollywood producers, coke addicts, drug dealers, alcoholics, group sex, early AIDS cases (the story is set in 1983), adultery, kidnapping, pop stars, the whole lot of emptiness.
And this is not one.

But: with Micky Rourke (as evil incarnate, a trafficker in stolen children --- that is, until you see his customer, then he seems to be nearly human), with Billy Bob Thornton (as manic adulterer), with Kim Basinger (as heroic victim, with all addictions on this planet), with Wynona Ryder (grown up, now a hysterical mid 30s). Plus a bunch of young faces that the film is not long enough for me to learn to recognize. Plus a young woman who has more nude scenes than text lines to speak.

In other words: this is not a good movie, but it is a bad movie in an amazingly interesting fashion. Maybe the only person in the whole plot that is not weird is the teenage son of the compulsively flirtatious alcoholic father (Chris Isaac), on joint vacation in Hawaii.
This is the kind of film that you can't possibly like, but on the other hand it is too fascinating to walk out...
Based on a book by the American Psycho dude.