Indentity Thief: Movie Review

So Melissa McCarthy is like this female John Candy character* and she steals Financial Executive Jason Bateman's identity and he has this crazy scheme to road trip her across the country to deliver her conning ass to his boss so he doesn't get fired because his clients have gotten wind of his (240) credit rating and given him a thumbs down with their vote of confidence.  If he brings the thief back and gets her to confess, the boss will reinstate him and the police will not be involved.  Got that? Actually, it's ok if you don't, since the plot of this movie is incidental - it's all about slapstick fat girl humor, with Jason Bateman dutifully doing the one thing he does best in everything he's in, which is to play the straight man.

Identity Thief is mostly getting bad reviews but I say go anyway! You'll enjoy it. It has its ups and downs and some dramatic moments too as the pair eludes two sets of baddies (one played by Terminator 2 silver-robot-guy Robert Patrick, see if you can spot him, and a pair of sexy, yet incompetent thugs of a drug lord who has a beef with Diane... (or whatever her name really is) and the police from several states. Eric Stonestreet (the gay-for-pay guy Cam from Modern Family) has a scene-stealing role in the middle of the movie as a guy that McCarthy picks up in a bar. Amanda Peet plays Bateman's totally agreeable pregnant wife who hardly questions his scheme to track down the con woman who is threatening their livelihood and their soon to be family of four.  Firstly, I can understand being a supportive spouse, but there could have been a lot more quippy dialogue between the husband and wife.  She was the most unemotional pregnant woman to ever appear in a madcap comedy.  And why hasn't a director or producer found a decent role for this underrated actress yet? 

The movie picks up more comedy steam when Bateman's "Sandy" character (Diane stole his name because it was girly) starts to get into the con man mode and reminded me a bit of the character played so masterfully by Jane Fonda in the (original) bank-robbing-due-to-shit-economy romp Fun with Dick and Jane from the mid 70s.

This movie is dumb, but you knew that already right? So go turn your brain off and enjoy two hours of goofy fun!

Posted by: GMan
*See:  Planes, Trains and Automobiles.