Review of Identity Thief (2013) by Genevieve R — 26 Aug 2013

It started out as an entertaining movie and I was drawn in by the fact that female leads don't usually look or act like Diana but it quickly became cliched and horrible with really cheesy humour. I kind of regret wasting 2 hours on this movie. McCarthy was also generally annoying.

Diana's jump from complete sociopath to good person wasn't logical and she still continues to exhibit psychopathic behaviour throughout the movie but they try to present her as a changed person or an improved version of her former self. They also try to pretend that her "dumpster baby" childhood is a legitimate reason to ruin people's lives.

I liked what they tried to do by changing up the "female lead" expectations; not participating in the violence too much, being a good person, having little to no personality, getting together with the male lead at the end, being helpless a lot of the time (he has to get saved a lot more than her during the movie and when she is kidnapped she is the one to knock her kidnapper out), etc. Maybe female leads are allowed to defy expectations if they are overweight and therefore not stereotypically beautiful? I don't know what fucked up standards Hollywood has in this regard. Altogether this movie could have been ten times better with a funnier script and a funnier actress.