Identity Thief Review
RYAN:Identity Thief starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy is the new R-rated comedy but is actually a little bit crime drama with a subplot that I really detested.
ERIN: I actually thought there was going to be 70% comedy and 30% drama but it was flipped.
RYAN: Oh I totally went in with expectations for something different than this.
ERIN: I was expecting to laugh more.
RYAN: I agree. At all the appropriate times we did laugh but it just wasn’t a total riot comedy like the poster or commercials would lead you to believe.
ERIN: Considering that these stars are so funny, I thought this would be one of those non-stop laughing movies.
RYAN: I’m disappointed due to overly-high expectations. Melissa McCarthy is so good. She’s so funny. Even just looking at her, there is something comical about her aura. And then she’s a really good actress. It’s obvious why she was nominated for an Oscar, previously. In dramatic moments, she is brilliant.
ERIN: She’s so, so good. I didn’t expect her to shine in dramatic moments but she really did. She turned it on. I was impressed.
RYAN: Jason looks amazing. He is drinking from the fountain of youth; not aging a day.
ERIN: He still looks like he did as a kid on TV.
RYAN: It’s remarkable. He and Paul Rudd.
ERIN: This movie was a little long.
RYAN: It dragged on.
ERIN: I don’t normally check my watch but I did in this one.
RYAN: And the score was so cheesy. It was like out of an 80s movie. It reminded me of Beverly Hills Cop.
ERIN: The soundtrack was pretty good though.
RYAN: I agree it was just the score that was very bad. Bu they had great chemistry as costars.
ERIN: They really did. I’m just disappointed in it.
RYAN: One of the glaring problems with this movie, though, was the suspension of disbelief. Oftentimes in movies something happens that you think for a moment wouldn’t happen in real life, but you go with it for the sake of the film. But in this one, I feel like that kept happening over and over and it was just too much.
ERIN: I remember saying that to you at the beginning of the movie.
RYAN: Yeah it was just too much throughout the film.
ERIN: There were some good costars. Melissa’s husband, Ben Falcone, showed up as the first hotel clerk.
RYAN: You called that right away. He’s great.
ERIN: Yeah he was funny.
RYAN: And then Eric Stonestreet from TV’s Modern Family has a nice role as a straight man. And there’s Jon Favreau and Amanda Peet who looks great.
ERIN: She’s so pretty. I can’t say too much more about her.
RYAN: She didn’t have too much to do in this. She’s the dutiful wife. I loved Melissa’s look. It was funny.
ERIN: She had the perfect back-woodsy look.
RYAN: It’s crazy that identity theft actually happens and ruins peoples’ lives.
ERIN: And then if you can turn it into something funny for a movie it’s cool but it just didn’t work well here.
RYAN: The subplot was just distracting and useless. It should have been cut out altogether and the movie would be improved a lot in story and length.
ERIN: The whole thing with those three characters was lame.
— BOTTOM LINE —
RYAN: My expectations were skewed. I’d say skip it but because of the cast, it’s maybe worth a rental.
