Identity Thief

After stealing the show in Bridesmaids, comedienne Melissa McCarthy scores her first starring role here as Diana, a conniving criminal who specializes in credit card cyber-scams. This time her victim is Sandy Bigelow Patterson (Jason Bateman), a mild-mannered accountant for a Denver mega-corporation who naively reveals far too much personal information when Diana calls, pretending to be a telemarketer. Soon, she's maxed out his credit cards and tainted his good name. Fired by his boss (Jon Favreau) and frustrated beyond measure, Sandy takes off to Florida to find the scamming imposter, determined to redeem his reputation. But obnoxious Diana outwits him at every turn, beating him up, stealing his wallet, wrecking his rental car, and leaving him stranded on the side of the highway. However, she's also being pursued by hit men, so Diana and Sandy wind up bonding as a squabbling odd couple on a crazy road trip to Colorado, all the while trying to evade an aggressive redneck skip-tracer aka bounty-hunter (Robert Patrick), the contract killers, and the cops. A sloppily scripted film that is chaotically directed by Seth Gordon, Identity Thief is a silly revenge fantasy that is shamelessly derivative of better films (Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Midnight Run). Not only is it not funny, but so much talent is also trashed on the wayside, including Amanda Peet as Sandy's supportive pregnant wife, and Eric Stonestreet as Big Chuck, a Georgia gent who adores Diana. Vulgar and tawdry, this is not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (17 min.), a brief gag reel, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are a “Scene Stealing: Capturing the Humor of Identity Thief” behind-the-scenes segment (8 min.), alternate takes (5 min.), “The Skiptracer's Van Tour” character segment with costar Robert Patrick (4 min.), and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a lame comedy.] (S. Granger)