Identity Thief

Needa a good laugh? Identity Thief is a great bet. Silly? Yep! Hilarious? For sure.

Melissa McCarthy Dives into this role, head first. She's a scream. She plays Diana, who steals Jason Bateman's (Sandy Bigelow Patterson) identity. She gets loads of credit lines and goes to town and shops 'til she drops and then goes to town some more.

With no where to turn, Bateman heads to Florida to confront McCarthy head on to save his hide. One bad escapade begets another. From the Police to debt collectors, to drug deals and a few other shady sorts. All the while, McCarthy and Bateman spar toe to toe...

The ending is nice, but not too nice. Which is a good thing in the land of Hollywood where Cinderella stories come true.

One sobering point is the reality and devastation identity theft can wreak. All kidding aside, take steps to protect yourself. Cyberfraud abounds!

Need a laugh? See Identity Thief. Sit back and crack up.

Now I feel compelled to see McCarthy's performance in Bridesmaids. Chick flic or not, why not.

Arthur VanDam, author and film critic

Identity Thief is a comedy filled with exciting scenes and memorable quotes involving two people, Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) and Diana (Melissa McCarthy) that would have never met, until Diana steals Sandy's identity. We all know how important credit is and Sandy is not going to sit around and watch his hard earned credit go down the drain. He travels cross country to bring Diana to justice. Diana is not the kind of person who "rolls over and dies," she doesn't give up without a fight. The director (Seth Gordon) sticks to his style of comedy, like Horrible Bosses, also starring Jason Bateman. Some scenes are drawn out in this 111 minutes, but that shouldn't stop you from seeing this movie. Besides you might learn a thing or two on keeping your identity safe!

It was an ok movie and quite easy watching but it wasn't as funny as I expected and the plot was very slow going!

I must have watched the extended version mentioned here on imdb. At the start of the film I was struck by several long repetitive talky unfunny scenes setting up Jason Bateman's family situation, job move, credit card problems. In case audiences don't get how credit cards work, let's put in another credit card scene.

Melissa McCarthy in the first half is mostly obnoxious with nary a redeeming feature. The premise of Bateman's legal problems and his taking McCarthy across country does not seem to make any logical sense. The audience could easily ignore this if the characters and events were funny but here they aren't. The road movie antics with Bateman and McCarthy drag on with few laughs and little chemistry. The car crashes and villainous pursuers fail to add much tension.

A real problem is the lack of jokes in the script. The main joke seems to be a recurring one where people think Sandy is a girl's name and Bateman insists it is unisex. So if you enjoy repetitions of the line "Sandy is a girl's name!" you might enjoy the film.

In the third act McCarthy pulls out some good acting and the film tries to insert some meaning and characterisation into events. It is kind of effective but is a big switcheroo to try and pull off after the mess that went on before.

Critics i.e. Rex Reed, must really have it out for Melissa McCarthy because the hateful reviews on this movie and her personally are not warranted.

If you like slapstick, raunchy, adult comedies then you will like Identity Thief. McCarthy shines in this movie, her physical comedy talent is right on the mark and she really gives her character a heart and soul. Bateman does well as the straight man caught up in McCarthy's crazy world of con games and identity theft.

This is pure escapism entertainment, you have to suspend your disbelief and just go for the ride. This is not Argo or Lincoln and it's not supposed to be. We saw this 3/9/13 at the Muvico and the theater was packed! Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie and the four of us thought it was hysterical. There are some really good one liners and physical comedy situations here. The box office success of this movie goes to show you that critics don't know bs about what people find funny. I can't wait to see Melissa in her new movie with Sandra Bullock.