Review of Identity Thief (2013) by Chris W — 15 Sep 2013

An accounts rep living in Denver named Sandy Bigelow Patterson goes on a cross-country trip to reclaim his life after his identity is stolen by a wily con artist lady in Florida named Diana who happens to be wanted by both a skip tracer (bounty hunter) and two hired thugs working for a drug dealer she scammed in this supposed comedy by the guy who made Horrible Bosses.

Right off the bat, this film is basically a cross between Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and (I presume) Midnight Run. For really dumb reasons, Sandy has to bring Diana back to Denver himself, and within 5 days, as the cops apparently aren't able to.

I love road trip movies, but this is just awful. It's not funny, overlong, has a plot that really doesn't work, and tries to have a sappy, heartfelt ending that also fails to work.

I think the only thing I really was amused by was the fact that McCarthy's character has a habit of punching people in the throat. Unfortunately she does this multiple times, so it starts to lose it's humor after a while.

I really love this cast. I mean there's Jason Bateman as Sandy, Melissa McCarthy as Diana, Amanda Peet, John Cho, Jon Fsvreau, and Robert Patrick among others in various roles, but unfortunately none of them are able to save this. I really wish we got more of Patrick as the skip tracer. He was awesome, and, along with the throat punching, the only reason I forced myself to sit through the while thing.

This is an unfunny film that is quite obnoxious at times. The character of Diana is rather schizophrenic at times with how she constantly shifts between trying to grow and change as a person, and being a shocking loathsome and irresponsible consumer who doesn't care about the damage she's causing. Which makes me really not care about the ending, as it feels too forced and quite false.

All in all, this really is a piece of crap. I was hoping it might have been better than people said, but no, it really does suck. AVOID.