Identity Thief
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Bateman
Directed By: Seth Gordon
Reviewed by Danielle Muir

[rating: 1/5]

In the vein of comedies that just doesn’t have any uproariously funny dialogue comes Identity Thief – the latest directorial foray from Horrible Boss’ Seth Gordon.  Starring comedies hottest property right now, Melissa McCarthy, you’d think that together with Mr Bateman that this would be a shoe-in for a good few belly laughs – unfortunately it wasn’t to be.  Whilst she certainly looks hilarious, with her ridiculous orange perm, garish makeup and penchant for wearing floral primary colours, McCarthy tries her best to deliver but just can’t overcome bad material.

Identity Thief trips and stumbles around right from the get go – the opening 20 seconds see the daft Sandy Patterson (Bateman) give his social security and bank details to a caller who claims his identities been stolen, offering a service to protect him from further attacks.  Personally I thought Bateman deserved to be ripped off if he gives his details out to the first impersonator who graces his speakerphone.  Anyway, due to some frustrating police, Sandy Patterson high-tails it down to Florida and wrangles the female Sandy Patterson into coming back and confessing to his boss that in fact, he’s not wanted for a bungled drug deal.  And of course hilarity ensues on the long, frustrating ride home plagued with drug dealers and bounty hunters.

I don’t know what more to say but I simply didn’t find the dialogue funny.  Sure, McCarthy pulls some funny facial expressions from time to time and Bateman looks suitably unimpressed – there are scenarios which had potential for some funnies – i.e. an awkward sexual encounter with Eric Stonestreet’s overzealous cowboy, but instead the actors just deliver their lines with the necessary gusto and then the scene ends – then it’s on to a similar scenario.  The mandatory heartfelt moments that every comedy seems to need are where McCarthy shines – she’s a terrific talent and displays here she’s far more than the go-to comedy girl she’s been pinned as, showing real emotional punch.  Unfortunately the piece she spouts is a jarring shift to the rest of the film and seems to be included for the sake of having an emotional moment.

Really, the only funny moments I found were when spontaneous hip-hop songs were played, i.e. Bad Girls by MIA played over Melissa McCarthy raiding every make-up, hairdressing and nightclubbing joint in town.  Other than that, there’s not really much entertaining fun to be had – rather just scenes let down by poor dialogue despite their stars’ best efforts.