Identity Thief

Melissa Mccarthy seems to be the next big thing in American mainstream comedy as she has starred in a number of mainstream American comedies such as This is Forty, The Hangover Part 3 and Identity Thief; however it seems Identity Thief will not be one that many will remember Mccarthy for. Identity Thief stars Jason Bateman as Sandy Bigelow Patterson, an uptight accountant who soon finds out that his identity has been stolen by someone (that someone is Mccarthy) in California who uses Patterson’s identity to buy a jet ski as well as getting herself arrested (which greatly affects Patterson’s job security). Patterson must travel to California and bring the fake Patterson to Denver to confess her crimes to the real Patterson’s new boss. 

Jason Bateman and Melissa Mccarthy try their best to develop an effective comic relationship but the pair are let down by a mostly laugh free script that relies mostly on visual gags such as vomiting, getting ran over, and sex. There is very little to laugh at in Identity Thief as the two mismatched pair travel through America meeting disaster after disaster much like how John Candy and Steve Martin did in Planes, Trains and Automobiles but without the laughs. Identity Thief takes many elements from Planes, Trains and Automobiles but fails to make the jokes work. As the movie drags on like the car journey that the two Patterson’s are on and the jokes continue to fall flat the more unengaged I got thus giving the emotional impact of film’s conclusion very little weight.

1.5/5