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| Melissa McCarthy stars in Identity Thief |
From our friends at DC Film Review...
10 Things I Hate (and 1 I Like) About Identity Thief
IMDb Plot: Mild-mannered businessman Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) travels from Denver to Miami to confront the deceptively harmless-looking woman (Melissa McCarthy) who has been living it up after stealing Sandy's identity.
Having just sat through 111 minutes of Seth Gordon’s incredibly unoriginal Identity Thief (a pound-for-pound clunker in the same vein as 2010’s equally disappointing Due Date) I couldn’t justify writing a standard review. After all, if Gordon (and writer Craig Mazin) can get by on crude jokes and impossible scenarios; then I should be allowed to “take it easy” in critiquing said movie. That said, I present 10 Things I Hate (and 1 I like) about Identity Thief...
1. Is it just me, or is the once-funny Bateman becoming a one-trick pony? Just once, I’d like to see him ditch the Michael Bluth (Arrested Development) routine, and try something different.
2. Are we supposed to believe that a drunken woman with a fake ID can get arrested and booked... without the police realizing it was a fake ID? While we’re at it: Don’t credit card companies check suspicious charges (especially out of state purchases, like a brand new car and a jet ski?)
3. I almost forgot: Despite having his identity stolen, an OCD Sandy doesn’t even bother to cancel his cards... allowing Diana to buy a brand new car before he catches up with her.
4. Sandy’s a girl name. Ha-ha. Even “funnier” the tenth time.
5. Speaking of repetitive jokes: My husband’s penis is broken. Ha-ha. My husband’s penis is broken. Ha-ha. Repeat ad nauseam. Hilarious.
6. Robert Patrick’s bounty hunter threatens to burn down a beauty salon... just to get a look at an appointment book. That sounds a little extreme, don’t you think?
7. How long before Identity Thief turns into a series of car chases, kidnappings and drug dealer shootouts? If you said 60 minutes, you win!
8. Is Jon Favreau auditioning for Horrible Bosses 2? Why else would his character be so over-the-top awful as a greedy boss who doesn’t even know the name of his own accountant?
9. T.I. as a drug enforcer? Who hires a 5’8, 150 pounder as muscle? Come to think of it; Who hires a guy who’s been in jail three times?
10. Sandy brings Diana home to meet his family: Hey kids, meet a complete stranger that I only met a few days ago... She assaulted me several times, locked me in a bathroom, made me lose my job, stole my car and identity, and ran another car off the road (with me in it.) Here, sleep on the floor with my small children (unsupervised.) Nice.
Lest you think I had a big bowl of negativity for breakfast, I still managed to enjoy McCarthy’s entire body of work. She tries a bit too hard, but it’s almost impossible not to like her. Whether she’s shouting out. “Ram harder, you fu*king vagina.” or singing along with multiple radio stations, McCarthy is a joy to behold. Too bad, she’s alone in this one.
Grade: D
