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There are two kinds of comedic actors. Some, like Jason Bateman, are reliably likable stars—the kind that almost everyone can agree on. Others, like Melissa McCarthy, are more of an acquired taste. Maybe they’re best in small doses—or maybe they appeal to a smaller audience. When you put the two together in the same movie, you just have to hope for the right balance. But Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon’s latest, Identity Thief, can’t seem to balance its story—much less its stars.
Identity Thief follows mild-mannered Sandy Patterson (Bateman) on a quest to get his life back from the woman who stole his identity (McCarthy).
Sandy has worked hard for what he has, but the father of two (with one more on the way) is still just scraping by. When his coworkers invite him to join their new firm, it seems as though things are finally starting to turn around—until a series of events makes it painfully obvious that Sandy’s identity has been stolen.
The police aren’t much help, so Sandy decides to take matters into his own hands, traveling to Florida to bring the thief to justice.
Identity Thief is definitely an unpredictable comedy—but, in this case, that’s not exactly a good thing. You see, Identity Thief feels like one of the stories that I used to write with my classmates during particularly dull lectures. We’d write a paragraph and pass it on to someone else, never knowing what kind of crazy direction the story would take. Sure, these silly stories would make us struggle to keep from laughing out loud in the back of class, but no one ever tried to turn them into a movie. Why not? Because they were ridiculous—and they made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
The same is true of this haphazard comedy. Not only is it built on a ridiculous premise—that the victim has to do the cops’ work for them—but it keeps shifting focus, turning into a completely different (and equally preposterous) movie every 10 or 15 minutes. It starts out as a good-natured comedy about a poor, defenseless schmuck who finds himself the victim of identity theft. Then it turns into a comic caper, as Sandy sets out to fix the situation. And, later, after Sandy catches his woman and somehow lures her into his car, it turns into a road trip comedy, as the two head back to Denver. Along the way, there are all kinds of random side stories—the most random of which involve both a bounty hunter (Robert Patrick) and duo of unidentified bad guys (Genesis Rodriguez and T.I.) who have their own reasons for tracking the thief (though we never really know what they are).
Really, Bateman is the film’s only redeeming quality. He’s adorably flabbergasted as the mild-mannered victim—and you’ll definitely feel sorry for him as he’s forced to endure McCarthy’s character’s obnoxious antics. But that’s just not enough to make this film worth watching.
In the end, the film’s offenses make for a pretty lengthy rap sheet. The characters are irritating. The acting is awkward. The story is completely contrived—and it’s made even worse by the ridiculous conclusion. So unless you’re a devoted Melissa McCarthy fan—and you’re really excited to see her play the same character that she always plays—I recommend taking a pass on this random comic mess.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
