Flash Movie Review: Identity Thief
It took me a longer time than usual to write this movie review. I had to look and see if I was being overly sensitive. As some of you may already know, the “F” word that I never say is F-A-T. Having been called that word throughout my childhood, I grew to despise the word and everything associated with it. If the movie studio had used an actress that was slender, I wondered if the comedy scenes would have still worked. The story was about Sandy Patterson, played by Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses, Arrested Development-TV), who traveled to Florida to find the woman who had stolen his identity. Besides maxing out his charge cards and ruining his credit, there was also a warrant out for his arrest. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, Mike & Molly-TV) played the fraudster Diana. To answer my earlier question, several scenes would not have worked with a slimmer actress. No matter who would have been cast, the fact was this movie was not funny. Though I will say Melissa did her best with what was thrown at her, using her impeccable comedic timing. The scenes shown in the movie trailers were the best parts of this bad movie. Didn’t someone read the finished script; it made no sense and was poorly thought out. Besides the main story, the writers threw in a second story about two henchmen chasing Diana for selling their boss bad, fake credit cards. If that was not enough there was another story line about a skip tracer, played by Robert Patrick (Gangster Squad, Walk the Line), who was hunting down the fake Sandy Patterson. I commend Melissa for all the physical comedy she had to perform, but it was such a constant stream that it turned into a ridiculous, slurry of lame stunts. The use of John Cho (Star Trek, Harold & Kumar franchise) and Amanda Peet (Identity, A Lot like Love) was a waste for the little screen time they had for their roles. There was one part I did not mind and it was the scene with Eric Stonestreet (Bad Teacher, Modern Family-TV) as Big Chuck. After re-reading this review I have to say I found this film offensive.
1 1/2 stars
Posted on February 11, 2013, in Comedy and tagged 1 1/2 stars, amanda peet, comedy, crime, eric stonestreet, jason bateman, john cho, melissa mccarthy, robert patrick. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
haha, i like the movie clip, sir… am gonna look for a copy to see if it’s as bad as you say, lol. always nice to read your reviews, thanks. have a good week. 🙂
Good luck with watching this film. I would like to hear your take of it. Glad you like the reviews and have yourself a good week. Thank you.
This was a tough one for me to review. I do think Kristen Wiig could have handled this role, with the exception of being hit by a car.
The story was poorly written and John Cho and Amande Peet were wasted. Good mention of the Eric Stonestreet scenes. They were both funny and touching.
I agree with you on the toughness of reviewing this film. Your suggestion of Kristen Wiig is a good choice; I like the idea.
The ads drove me away.
You are smarter than me.
Let me just say this, I learned my lesson today – to consult your reviews before seeing *any* movie from this point on. We walked out of this movie today. I think that’s the first time my husband has ever walked out of a movie.
Sorry you had to learn the hard way. lol You two need to see a good movie to get the bad taste out of your mouths.