Actor and writer Mike Mekus joins the show from Manhattan for a discussion of Steven Soderbergh and his 2009 “comedy thriller” The Informant!

Based on the best-selling non-fiction book of the same name (sans exclamation point) by Kurt Eichenwald, it’s the story of Mark Whitacre, an Archer Daniels Midland Company executive turned corporate whistleblower on price-fixing collusion in agri-industry, who turns out to have been embezzling from the company the entire time he was co-operating with the FBI.

We talk about what we love about Soderbergh’s career-long capitalist critique in his works, the many risks he takes in presenting The Informant! as a comedy, and we shake our heads at the irony of Matt Damon now repeating the role of the unreliable narrator but in real life, as the new pitchman for Crypto dot com. Father of daughters Matthew Damon, what are you doing?

Patrons of the Junk Filter podcast receive at least two additional exclusive episodes a month: some of our notable previous guests include Jared Yates Sexton, David Roth, Bryan Quinby, Sooz Kempner, and Jacob Bacharach. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Mike Mekus on Twitter.

Mike writes for the9layground.com and has a blog!

Trailer for The Informant! (Soderbergh, 2009)

ADM (Supermarket to the World) "Original Impossible Burger" TV Commercial, 1990