"Identity Thief" serves up a hot plate of disappointment

[rating=3]

When I first heard about this movie, I’ll admit I was a little excited.  After thoroughly enjoying “Horrible Bosses” and hearing that this was from the same director and starred Jason Batement, I couldn’t help but hope for a similar hilarity.  What I failed to note was that it’s also from the writer who brought us that steaming piles that waere “The Hangover Part II” and the last two “Scary Movie” films.  If you are one of the few people who actually liked those movies, then you will likely enjoy this one as well.  If, however, you prefer comedy with a little more cleverness, you might have to resort to your personal DVD collection.

“Identity Thief” is the story of Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman, Horrible Bosses) as his life is turned upside down when his identity is stolen by Diana (Melissa McCarthey, Bridesmaids).  Unable to rectify the situation in his homestate and finding no help in the detective assigned to his case, Sandy ventures across the country to find the woman who stole his identity and take her back home to fix things.  Along the way, they run into trouble in the form of angry gangsters and a bounty hunter after Diana for their own agenda.

Everything about this movie screams unoriginal.  If you’ve seen any kind of roadtrip movie, you’ll know what to expect.  Two people from seperate worlds come together in adversity to go cross country for whatever reason and end up forming some sort of relationship.  That’s all this movie is.  And what makes it worse is that there’s only one relateable person on the whole movie – Sandy.   The writers tried so hard to make the Diana character relateable and likeable but ended up with a very hateable and annoying character. 

Sometimes films with awful characters can redeem themselves with tha good script and story, but this is not one of those films.  The antagonists’ motivations were weak at best and not well explained at all.  There are also entire scenes in which these characters talk up some sort of hidden story-line that never comes to fruition.  The gangsters (or whoever they were) could be completely taken out of the film and nothing would change about it.

If you are a fan of the comedic style of Melissa McCarthey, then you might enjoy this film, as most of the gags are from her.  Jason Bateman gets a few hits in now and again, which is why this film is rated as high as it is, but not enough to make this film worth seeing for more than a few bucks.  I personally find her humor to be over the top and immature, which is not something I like in a movie I paid eight bucks for.  So my advice is that if you’re not DYING to see this movie becaues you LOVE Melissa McCarthey, then either wait for it to be in Redbox, or just don’t bother.

“Identity Thief” is rated R for sexual content (sexual dialogue, some sexual scenes involving gestures and facial expressions, and a man’s bare butt is shown) and language (scattered profanity including several uses of the “F-word”).