Identity Thief: Movie Review

Identity Thief: Movie Review

Cast: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Genesis Rodriguez, Eric Stonestreet
Director: Seth Gordon

Following on from this year's first mis-matched road trip movie, The Guilt Trip comes the latest contender - Identity Thief.

Mild-mannered businessman Sandy Patterson (a likeable Jason Bateman) is an everyday American blue collar worker, who, one day finds his chance of getting a new job is being scuppered by someone who's stolen his identity and maxed out his credit cards.

So, deciding, for once, to take matters into his own hands, Sandy heads from Denver to Miami to track down alterna-Sandy Patterson (Melissa McCarthy, complete with garish orange glow and horrendous clothes), who's been living the high life at his expense.

His plan? To get "Sandy" back to Denver so she can clear his name - sounds easy, but as Sandy soon discovers this plan is about to hit all manner of speed bumps.

Overlong and under funny, this latest from the director of Horrible Bosses manages to get the absolute best out of a pair of likeable leads despite giving them very little to work with. Once again, Bateman mines his very successful middle American schtick to great comic effect despite having very few lines to work with. But once again, he proves identifiable for a lot of middle America as they get the chance to "stick it to the man". Melissa McCarthy, while initially garish and over the top, begins to grate but wisely and perhaps, unevenly, suffers from the affliction of a conscience in the final furlong of the movie.

A side plot involving McCarthy's character being chased by a bounty hunter and a pair of agents is thrown into the mix without any hint of development and consequently flounders; multiple jokes are made over how "Sandy" is a unisex name linger in the air without ever hitting a target and a few acerbic barbs fly by giving a couple of titters, but nothing ever approaching a belly laugh. Set pieces have flat pay-offs and give little to the audience who're investing their time in this duo.

Farcical without ever being overly funny, this road trip without the subtlety may amuse some more than others, but in amongst the inevitable squabbling and moments of occasional grossness, there is some heart and emotion as McCarthy's "Sandy" gets a back story and suffers the unavoidable final act about-face.

All in all, Identity Thief is a good idea and a great premise which doesn't quite generate the funnies it needs and offers a straighter piece rather than a dramedy. It fails to deliver the laughs and despite a pair of likeable leads, it flounders with, ironically, no identity of its own to build on.

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