Film: Identity Thief

Director: Seth Gordon
Genre: Comedy
Source: USA (2013)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Blu-ray
Grade: C

Sometimes, even when you get a lot of really funny people together, not very much funny happens. Such is the case with Identity Thief, a middling comedy from actors and a director who should be much funnier. Gordon, whose The King of Kong is always a favorite when I teach documentary in my film class, has had a middling career as a feature director, with both this film and his previous pairing with Bateman, Horrible Bosses, surviving on moments of comedy but otherwise being predictable and oddly flat. Character arc here does nothing surprising, with (spoilers!) both characters learning lessons, growing to like each other, and bonding in the end. It's a typical road movie, a typical odd couple movie, a typical R-rated comedy.

And it's about thirty minutes too long. Honestly, did we really need two sets of people after McCarthy's character (whose name I forget and don't feel like bothering to look up)? And why were they after her again? And is this really a likely scenario--driving cross country with a felon so you can get your job back? 

I know, I know, it's a movie, and I didn't hate it. I just wasn't bowled over either. McCarthy is annoying, but not always funny. Bateman is the straight man, but comes off as dull. Neither of them are given as much to do  as they should have been, and though a few cameos brighten things up (Eric Stonestreet--or Cam from Modern Family--I will never look at you quite the same again!), but overall it was just a little too flat for me. Perhaps my disappointment is not that it was worse than most comedies (Hangover III review coming soon!), it was just not as funny as it could have been.

Alternate Film Title: "Criminals Are Just Misunderstood!"