Movie Review: Identity Thief (2013)

Synopsis: After barely scraping by with two kids and one on the way, things are finally looking up for Denver resident Sandy Patterson when he is offered an opportunity to be part of a new finance firm with five times the salary. However, that financial security is put in jeopardy when a woman in Florida steals his identity, both destroying his credit rating and getting him in legal trouble. When he learns it could take a year or more for local police to clear him, Sandy takes matters into his own hands and travels to Florida to bring the thief back to Denver so he can trick her into confessing in front of the police.

Who's in it? The movie stars Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, John Cho, Amanda Peet and Jon Favreau.

Review: Our 15-year-old had another late theater practice last night (thank God those are almost over) so, after watching Resident Evil for the umpteenth time and realizing we still had a couple hours to kill, my wife picked out Identity Thief. I wasn't sure what to expect because, much like Adam Sandler, Melissa McCarthy movies are a bit hit or miss with me, but it ended up being a surprisingly entertaining movie.

As far as the comedy goes, there's a solid mix of physical and what I would describe as "smart" comedy. Bateman and McCarthy play well off each other and while some of the stuff was a bit over the top (including how they manage to destroy multiple cars) it worked. Also, as the movie progressed, the developing "frenemies" angle between Sandy (Bateman) and Diana (McCarthy) is believable.

Another thing I liked about this film was it wasn't as predictable as it easily could have been. There are a lot of moving pieces, including multiple people hunting down Diana, both for money she stole and her involvement with a drug dealer who now wants her dead, something that disrupts Sandy's plan to bring Diana to Denver multiple times. 

There is also a big question about how the movie is going to end. Since it is a comedy, the expectation would be a happy ending for the main two characters. However, it is unclear how Sandy can fix his problems without Diana going to prison since it wasn't just credit card fraud, he was an accused drug dealer too.

While I did enjoy the movie overall, there were some things I wasn't a fan of. This included the hotel room sex scene which, while comical, was a bit dragged out. Plus, the whole "Sandy is a girl's name" thing wasn't overly funny, especially by the third or fourth time I heard it in this film. 

Also, as I pointed out to my wife, there were some parts of the movie that just didn't make a whole lot of sense if you put any thought into them. For example, for someone who had bad credit and multiple warrants out for his arrest, Sandy had no problem getting a plane ticket or renting a car. And that's before I even get into questioning why he didn't have a real warrant out for his arrest following multiple incidents that were both criminal offenses and could easily be traced to him. Frankly, the fact this was a comedy is probably the only reason he didn't end up in prison.

Final Opinion: It's not a movie you want to overthink and some of the jokes do fall a little flat, especially when they are repeated. However, it was still a fun film, and we enjoyed watching it.

My Grade: B+

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