Identity Thief came out this weekend and being one of the first formulaic comedy movies of the year to pique my interest, I caught a showing. This movie stars Jason Bateman of Arrested Development fame, and Melissa McCarthy, known to most as the actress from Bridesmaids. As the movie opens, McCarthy steals Bateman’s identity, and what follows are the comedic escapades of a buddy-comedy style cross-country journey to justice. While Bateman and McCarthy play off of each other brilliantly, the movie seems more focused on providing a stage for their repartee than telling a quality story, a disservice to the film’s potential and the cast.
It’s apparent the plot is secondary to the performers early on because the writer clearly made little effort in even building a believable opening. Sandy Bigelow Patterson (Bateman) is a corporate financial accountant who doesn’t have enough sense to withhold his social security number from an obvious phishing ruse perpetrated by “Diana” (McCarthy). Diana proceeds to have an outrageous spending spree in Florida as Sandy goes on with his life in Colorado, until the police get involved. Sandy is met with useless Colorado law enforcement who won’t aid in the arrest of Diana because she’s across the country, but have no qualms when Sandy embarks on a kidnapping (kidnapping almost surely being a crime). Finally, Sandy flies to Florida, and he and Diana are thrust together as two members of the local drug cartel (assumption) start trying to kill Diana for selling them bad fake credit cards. And somewhere along the way, a bounty hunter joins the chase too. What follows is absurd and cheesy, gives no depth or detail, and marches out too many ancillary characters to care about or remember, including Sandy’s wife and kids.
There weren’t too many scenes that elicited a hearty laugh, but I absolutely loved Bateman and McCarthy’s on-screen chemistry. Bateman is a perfect straight man for McCarthy, as he lets her run wild with the jokes before reining it in with a biting commentary. And honestly, I’d just love for him to throw on a slim-fitting suit more often. McCarthy definitely hits the mark in this performance, bringing complexity and realism to an otherwise lackluster film, and demonstrating she desperately needs a quality comedy to sink her teeth into. She is slightly garish at times when hamming up the lowly comic jokes she’s given, but still deftly employs her acting skills to reveal her character’s deep loneliness and desire for human connection. Through her, the audience can access the few honest and serious moments available. Within the strong-willed exterior, Diana is a troubled woman with no family or friends of any sort. She tries to fake friendship through money, but instead deepens the sorrow she feels, and it isn’t until Sandy comes along that she believes anyone could even notice her, let alone value her. McCarthy gives such a genuine performance, the scenes where she tackles serious content never feel forced or false, and it’s apparent why this woman’s past credits include an Oscar nomination.
In spite of the quality performances, the movie is still chock full of schlock. The majority of the jokes stem from physical comedy and stereotyping, certainly not where the comic skills of the actors lie. There are countless moments of McCarthy getting knocked around in a haphazard manner, and terrible jokes about different pockets of American culture. Sandy and Diana, after passing into Georgia (welcome sign reading: “Welcome to Georgia: Home of Adventure”), arrive at a diner so lurid, I’m suspicious the screenwriter has never been through the southern United States before and just used his vague recollections of that one time he watched My Cousin Vinny, although nothing much (or at all) can be expected of the screenwriter that penned such gems as Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4, and The Hangover: Part 2. The movie tilted between broad and bizarre in the comedy department, and never embraced either. The most unsettling scene of the entire film, a moment that stunned the audience into silence and made me question the credentials of the filmmakers, was the snake attack. They find themselves battling a cheaply CGIed snake, with a stick wielding McCarthy attacking said snake as it tightly wraps around Bateman’s neck and sinks its teeth into him. This scene, more fear than farce , was completely out of pace with the rest of the film and belonged much more in a survival narrative than a comic one. In the bizarre vein, near the end of the film Diana meets Trish, Sandy’s wife, and delivers one of the most unusual and confusing speeches I’ve ever heard. Instead of offering any sort of apology, it is a monologue assuring Trish nothing untoward happened between Sandy and Diana on the open road. It is utterly unintelligible. Disappointingly, neither of these scenes fit the tone or style of this movie’s comedy, and only help to illustrate the larger issue of this heavily disjointed story.
A bumpy ride with more “bathroom break” moments than riveting ones, this movie will join the mediocre pantheon and probably find its edited way to TBS, but for now I’d just look past it to the other projects these actors have headed their way. Jason Bateman will reprise his role as Michael Bluth in a new season of Arrested Development, and Melissa McCarthy is co-directing and producing, with her husband, a film she co-wrote, with her husband, and starring in it alongside Shirley MacClaine, both promising endeavors. If you are a serious Bateman or McCarthy fan I recommend you grab a seat, but otherwise, don’t worry about it.
Critical Dan 