By Kristi Harris, NDG Intern
Identity Thief starts with that all too uncomfortable moment that too many of us have experienced. It all begins with a decline at the gas station.
We all have been there. You swipe and the dreaded “Please see the cashier” pops across the screen in computer green. What? You push cancel and swipe again. “Please, see the cashier” again. You curse to yourself and then march into the gas station. You throw your card on the counter and proclaim loud enough for the guy shaking his head at you in the line
“Hey, there is something wrong with the pump; it’s not taking my card.” The gas station attendant swipes and to your dismay you are declined for a dollar!
Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) is on the road to success when he discovers that his good name has been ruined by miscreant Diana (Melissa McCarthy) in the Sunshine State. To clear his name and save his job Sandy Patterson must travel to Florida to bring Diana back to justice. With handcuffs and sock money in tow thus begins the the buddy/road trip movie Identity Thief.
Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) follows the formula for buddy road trip movies. You know from the get-go where the movie is going and how it is going to get there. Bateman is the perfect loveable vanilla straight man and McCarthy is the perfect over-the-top crazy curveball that knocks him out of the frying pan and into the fire over and over again.
Be prepared to suspend belief. Identity Thief has several unnecessary subplots that through the film to the world of Never-Never Land. You have a hat-head realtor, Eric Stonestreet of (Modern Family); drug dealing thugs; Tip “TI” Harris (American Gangster) and Genesis Rodriguez (Man On a Ledge); and a Skiptracer; Robert Patrick (Gangster Squad).
If you cannot watch a movie without saying “come on that would never happen”; then this movie is not for you. But if you want a pee your pants roller-coaster ride with McCarthy driving at the wheel then Identity Thief is worth the price of admission.
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would probably be a good idea to get the name of the movie right in the title. Identity Thief not Identity Theft.
Oops – that is what happens when you spend time reading about the IRS Identity Theft raid announced yesterday right before you schedule a movie on the same topic live. Thanks for the heads up!