Review of Identity Thief (2013) by Tony G — 07 Aug 2013

As formulaic as they come, "Identity Thief" is one of the most predictable movies you will probably see. If you asked yourself "What if Melissa McCarthy stole Jason Bateman's identity?", you'd probably come up with this storyline and then Hollywood producers would ask you to put in the standard road trip cliches (car being destroyed, having to walk, bonding moment), villainous villains and a tie up loose ends ending - and "Identity Thief" would automatically come out. There's no originality whatsoever.

But Melissa McCarthy sure is hilarious and she squeezes laughs out of every possible line even if there's not much to squeeze, and Jason Bateman has a well-deserved patent on the exasperated straight man role - they both salvage "Identity Thief" from being a disaster. For all we know the movie could have been the two of them meeting on a park bench and bantering in their unique styles and we would have gotten just as many laughs.

Unoriginal, predictable and messy, "Identity Thief" stole 2 hours from my life.