Identity Thief (2013) Review

Identity Thief is a comedy that ultimately try’s to combine a slightly mediocre comedic presence with the poorly written idea of humanising a criminal and life destroying profession, the ‘Identity Thief’.

Jason Bateman stars Sandy Paterson, a farther of two and accountant, who is taken advantage off due to his feminine name and gets his identity stolen by fraudster Dianna (Bridesmaids Melissa McCarthy). As things unfold it’s eventually clear that this film is a road trip movie once Sandy realises he must confront Dianna in Miami and bring her back to Denver.

This film is funny at times and Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy give a lot to their performance and do help this film become an enjoyable experience, despite being dragged down by the shoddy plot line.

You see problems unfolding right from the beginning when it comes to the writing. The lack of believability, emphasised even before Sandy heads out to catch his fraudster sets the tone to this film. Sandy seems to be living in an alien world where help isn’t at hand by both his credit card company and the police.

Now here is the first major problem when it comes to believability, the law enforcers, (you know, the people that up hold the law and stop crimes from being committing). Well these crime stoppers ultimately tell Sandy that they won’t help him but do suggest that he kidnaps Dianna and brings her back to Denver so they will arrest her. Quite possibly some of the worst legal advice I’ve ever heard on screen especially from a Detective as well. This sets the ball rolling for the poor backbone of a story that runs through this film.

You also get these cameo like appearances from Genesis Rodriguez and Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. that are chasing Dianna for another fraudulent job she has committed. Those two characters aren’t really given a purpose other than to push Dianna into having a reason to give into Sandy and come back with him. Their roles are overlooked quite frequently and at points you even forget they are still chasing Dianna.

But despite these faults in the story they are only small minor problems that orbit the main downfall of the overall story. This is to try and humanize a criminal that ruins the lives of many for their own greed. The story starts by portraying the selfish and callous lifestyles of the identity thief. The film aims to win you over by trying to convert your perceptions of this character and make you forgive this criminal by justifying the reasoning behind her actions. It’s a poor attempt at an overall plot line and it’s that lack of realism that fails to get the reaction that the story is trying to draw out of the audience.

No it’s not a film that will leave you in stitches and with it being almost two hours long it is stretching the limits of when a film such as this start to drag. Yes the plot lets it down but the silliness does create an enjoyable film though that is funny in parts, the majority of the time this comes from Melissa McCarthy’s character Dianna.

Overall if you are looking for a comedy with a solid story and that is intensely funny then this isn’t the film for you. This films plot is completely hollow due to the lack of believability and strange attempt to humanize the ‘Identity Thief’. Yes this is a comedy and there are funny moments at certain points but the film won’t have you laughing throughout. This film is enjoyable though and is a very easy watch but it’s not something that you should rush out your way to see.  

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