Identity Thief

Jason Bateman’s film career is filled with plenty of romantic comedies and lowbrow humor but every once in a while he manages to surprise audiences with a hilarious film like Horrible Bosses. Unfortunately, Identity Thief is not one of those cases. Not even the lovable Melissa McCarthy can save the film from what is sure to be an absolute disaster.

Bateman and McCarthy both star as Sandy Bigelow Patterson, although only one of them is the real Sandy. McCarthy has stolen Sandy’s identity and gone on a shopping/crime spree that lands the Bateman in jail. In order to clear his name, he must find this thief and get her to confess. Problem is, she’s all the way down in Florida and he’s in Colorado. It’s time for a road trip!

Identity Thief throws all common sense and intelligence out the window as it attempts to convince you that what you’re watching is funny. Bateman simply drops everything he’s doing to go and try to convince this criminal to turn herself in. Once they finally meet up, things only get worse.

The script doesn’t cater at all to either Bateman or McCarthy as they’ve both proven to be hilarious in past instances. It’s painful watching them interact with each other as McCarthy jokes about what it’s like stealing other people’s identities and Bateman tells his sob story about how he’s lost everything. There’s simply no chemistry between the two and when the film attempts to create some real drama it just doesn’t feel right.

To make matters even worse, there’s not one but two unnecessary subplots; one involving a headhunter trying to cash in on McCarthy jumping bail, and another involving a group of criminals going after her for selling them fake credit cards. These distractions only drag out the film to an excruciating two hour running time.

There are moments in the film that’ll make you scream “Really?” out loud, as the plot scrambles to make any sense whatsoever. It wouldn’t be that bad if the jokes were funny, but it’s not. The lack of humor only makes the plot holes and ridiculous nature of the film all the more apparent.

I wanted to like Identity Thief and went in hoping for the best. Unfortunately, what I saw was one of the worst films of the year so far. It’s painful to watch and you’ll be wondering when the movie will be over shortly after it’s just begun.