Movie Review - Identity Thief

Identity Thief (2013)

Starring Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Tip "T.I." Arris, Genesis Rodriguez, Morris Chestnut, John Cho, Robert Patrick, and Eric Stonestreet

Directed by Seth Gordon

Maybe it's because I was bracing myself for something horrid based off reviews, but Identity Thief isn't half bad.  I laughed a few times (not nearly enough, however), but this one seemed to have much vitriol headed its way.  Admittedly, I had grown tired of Melissa McCarthy's supposed shtick -- I loved her in Bridesmaids, but thought she was phoning it in for her bit role in This Is 40 -- and the previews for Identity Thief depicted her as being much of the same old-same old.  However, her role as Diana, a Florida gal who steals peoples' identities, actually was a bit more well-rounded than I expected, stepping beyond the brashness we've come to expect from her movie characters.

Don't mistake this praise for something fantastic, though.  Identity Thief is a comedy with not enough laughs and a subplot that's simply horrid involving two sets of criminals chasing after Diana for payback for wrongdoings she's enacted upon them.  If the film was smart, it would have had the nerve to simply make itself focus on Diana and Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman), the schmuck whom Diana took advantage of by stealing nearly everything he had.  When Sandy is faced with losing his job because of Diana's dirty thievery, he leaves Colorado to track her down in Florida and force her to return to Colorado to tell his boss that he isn't involved in the crimes she's committed.  (He's told by police that they essentially can't do anything which conveniently allows for this set-up to happen.)  On their cross country trek, they bond and become emotionally attached all the while avoiding the bad guys who are trying to hunt down Diana.

I'm sure many critics lambasted the mushiness of the film's final act, but I must admit that I found it welcoming and that it shed a decent light on Ms. McCarthy.  There are moments here that prove she's more than just a raucous buffoon and that she may have more to offer the movie industry than what she's given us prior.  Of course, I say this and can't help but think that The Heat is simply a return to what we've seen from her before...but maybe like Identity Thief the trailers were a poor indication of what was to come.

Jason Bateman is fine here and perfectly watchable, and I really do wish the film had the courage to have simply made this a movie about two people and their interactions with one another.  The extraneous plots of both a bounty hunter (Robert Patrick) and a two criminals sold faulty credit cards (Genesis Rodriguez and T.I.) were horribly underwritten and seemingly shoe-horned into things without any rhyme or reason.  Less is more in comedy and, as I always say, we can thank Judd Apatow  (who I don't think was involved in this at all) for the modern notion that comedies must be as lengthy as possible to have "substance."  Still, while I'm well aware lowered expectations helped this one, Identity Thief wasn't nearly as bad as other critics would have you think.

The RyMickey Rating:  C