On DVD: 'The Informers'

'The Informers' (R) ***

Writer: Nicholas Jarecki based on novel by Bret Easton Ellis
Director: Gregor Jordan
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Bassinger, Winona Ryder, Brad Renfro, Rhys Ifans, Jon Foster, Amber Heard, Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Isaak

"The Informers" at least will make you glad that the 80's are over. This strangely intoxicating movie is based on a book by Bret Easton Ellis who specializes in the indulgent me decade of the 80's right before Aids was about to arrive on the scene. He wrote the novel "Less Than Zero" (made into a movie with Robert Downey, Jr. and James Spader) that dealt with the same things "The Informers" does. It deals with drugs, loose sex, murder, crime, bad hair and sometimes bad music. This is a mosaic of the early 80's and is set in L.A. and tries to be like "Crash" and "Short Cuts" dealing with different characters in stories who all somehow become connected to each other. It is nowhere as good as those movies but I was somehow fascinated with this strange, messed up movie. This is a glorious car wreck of a movie that you don't want to watch but somehow can't keep your eyes off of. These are all characters that I actually should hate but again I just couldn't stay away from. There are good performances by Bassinger, Thornton, Rourke, the late Brad Renfro, Pucci,Isaak and a interesting one by Amber Heard. In this movie you deal with a kidnapper and his son (Rourke, Renfro), a movie producer and his estranged wife (Thornton, Bassinger), a lech of a father and his suffering son (Isaak, Pucci), a rock star and his manager and a young destructive couple (Foster, Heard). "The Informers deals with all these stories well for it is well directed and will make you hate the 80's again. This is either a really bad movie that I shouldn't even recommend to you or a guilty pleasure that is so bad it is good. All I can say is I never was bored, I saw some really good performances, I won't watch it again but yes I did like it in a strange way. "The Informers" is now available on DVD.