Identity Thief

 I saw Identity Thief last week and was unimpressed.  When I first saw the trailer it looked pretty good. I like Jason Bateman in The Change Up, The Switch, and films like that.  Melissa McCarthy was awesome in Bridesmaids, how could this be anything but a winning combination?  Both actors do their best, but unfortunately, the script doesn't service their comedic talents.  It had some funny parts, but on a whole, it was definitely not worth seeing in a theater. I'm glad I saw it at home.

The basic plot is that Jason Bateman's character, Sandy Patterson, has his identity stolen by Melissa McCarthy's character, Diana.  Diana lives in Winter Park, FL and Sandy lives in Denver, CO, so he has to travel to Florida to bring Sandy back to Denver to sort out all his job troubles.  Apparently there are no Federal laws she is breaking, and Denver Police have no relationship with other police departments.  No FBI, nothing, so Sandy takes it on himself to apprehend her.  Now, Winter Park, FL is a suburb or Orlando, FL and they did NOT Shoot in Winter Park at all.  The Winter Park of this film looks more like Arizona or Louisiana than Florida.  I live in Orlando and am in Winter Park frequently, so it did not pass muster with me. Small gripe, but whatever.

During this trip, driving back across the country, Sandy has to pretend that Diana is his wife, in order not to appear weird.  I think technically this would be considered kidnapping? Anyways the best part of the film is when Diana invites another man back to their hotel room to have sex while Sandy watches. Hilarity ensues.  Its all downhill after that.  Sandy and Diana are on the run from a bill collector/bounty hunter (Robert Patrick) as well as some gangsters (T.I. and Genesis Rodriguez). Its here that the film loses steam. I think the film would have been much funnier if we had more situations where Diana was stealing identities.  Once these other characters enter the picture, the film turns into a predictable on the road/on the run comedy.  There are certainly worse films than this one you could watch, but there are also certainly better films as well.

2 out of 5 stars

Trailer