Identity Thief

Identity Thief, Director Seth Gordon's follow-up to 2011’s Horrible Bosses, opened earlier this year to less than stellar reviews.  The film may have been a box office success due in part to a talented cast, but a meandering storyline distracted from the fun.  Thankfully, Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy gave spirited performances and created an entertaining odd couple that rescued Identity Thief from mediocrity.

Scam artist Diana (Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids) is living in the lap of luxury.  Using fraudulent credit cards Diana is able to visit upscale hair salons, buy rounds for everyone at the club, and fill her Florida home with so many items it looks like an outlet mall.  Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman, Netflix’s Arrested Development) is struggling to make ends meet in Colorado with a job in the shaky financial industry and his wife Trish (Amanda Peet, 2012) pregnant with their third child.  The Patterson’s finances are unstable and things get even worse when Diana steals Sandy’s identity.  Frustrated that help from law enforcement could take up to one year to fix his credit score and save him from financial ruin, Sandy discovers that the only way to solve the problem is to bring Diana to Colorado himself.

McCarthy and Bateman both play the same roles they have portrayed in various other projects.  McCarthy is a brash, unapologetic psychopath willing to do whatever it takes to stay out of trouble.  Bateman plays a role he has perfected as Michael Bluth - the straight man dealing with absolute chaos around him.  While the characters offer nothing new in their respective resumes, the duo is a blast to watch as polar opposites forced to travel together.  The remainder of the cast is underdeveloped or shouldn’t have existed in the first place.  Singer T.I. and Genesis Rodriguez (Man on a Ledge) are henchmen for an incarcerated crime boss going after Diana for selling them previously-used false credit cards.  Both roles are completely unnecessary, add nothing to the film, and should have been left on the editing room floor.  John Cho (Harold & Kumar) is wasted as Sandy’s co-worker with only a few short scenes.  Eric Stonestreet (ABC’s Modern Family) steals a few scenes as Big Chuck in a fun role.  Equally as fun is great character actor Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) playing a badass bounty hunter hot on Diana’s trail.  Last, but certainly not least, Jon Favreau (Swingers) has a turn as Sandy’s insensitive prick of a boss that audiences will love to hate.

The packaging boasts that this release includes both the theatrical version and the unrated version.  Upon investigation, the unrated version has an additional ten minutes.  However, not one second of those ten minutes are noteworthy as I saw the theatrical version of Identity Thief and failed to notice anything new.  My gut tells me that numerous scenes had a few more seconds tacked onto the end of them.  Bonus features include a “making of” video, a tour with Robert Patrick of his bounty hunting van, and a gag reel that ends far too soon.  Fans of Bateman or McCarthy should definitely check out Identity Thief.  Ignore the far-fetched storyline and enjoy the film for what it is – a pleasant escape.