Sometimes your life needs a little mess in it.
Swift shot: Mary, errr, I mean Melissa McCarthy is really growing on me. For some reason I keep calling her Mary, but maybe one of these days I will get it right! Speaking of identities, what’s in a name? I guess if you’ve ever had your identity stolen, this film might offer some therapeutic release where you can see an imagined revenge play out before you. And, while I wasn’t laughing in every single scene of Identity Thief, I did laugh heartily quite a few times.
Sandy Bigelow Patterson (Jason Bateman) is a mid-level accountant working for a major firm in Denver. His boss, Harold Cornish, is played by an overtly puffy Jon Favreau who makes sure that the employees aren’t getting bonuses but he and the senior staff will be sure to get hefty checks. Cornish explains to Sandy, “Read The Fountainhead, I’ll get you a copy.” So, yea, his boss is not exactly a mensch. Sandy’s wife, Trish (Amanda Peet) is pregnant with their third child, and Sandy and she are barely getting by. But, a dastardly criminal mastress, (let’s call her Sandy) doesn’t know, or care to know all that. All she knows is Sandy Bigelow Patterson has a great credit score and is an easy mark.
Sandy assumes Sandy’s identity and lives it up, like a government employee with an unlimited expense account. She hits bars, spas, buys water-recreational vehicles, massage chairs, you name it, if she can swipe that card, it’s gonna be hers. She is also not afraid of the law, or much, really. At first glance, you really loathe her selfish character. But her character develops throughout the film.
Sandy quickly discovers, in a very troubling set of circumstances, that he is the victim of identity theft. Luckily for him, he is a man and his thief is, well, Melissa McCarthy, so once that is sorted out, the police let him go on his not-so-merry way. All is not completely resolved, as he has just recently decided to jump at his co-worker’s offer to be a VP at a new firm being started in response to Cornish’s heinous “bonus policy.” That’s great, but, because of his latest encounter with Sandy, his new boss, Daniel (John Cho) is not sure they can even hire him now. In a desperate (only in the movies) move, Sandy convinces the Denver police and his new boss that he will settle everything and bring this thief to Denver to confess.
Sandy is about to meet Sandy. Neither one is prepared.
Sandy is in [grumble] “the worst place in America”, my home state, Florida! She has been living it up near Orlando. Sandy managed to get information on where she would be, what time, and plans to ambush her and fly her back to Colorado. Their first meeting doesn’t exactly go as Sandy was planning, but it starts out in one of those, oh, this should be good scenarios. But, Sandy gets away. She hightails it home, where she has essentially gathered up enough stuff to rival Pee Wee Herman. She doesn’t just have one mega-deluxe blender, she has rows of them! She even has a freakin’ rock-wall in her backyard.
But, Sandy isn’t completely without his resources, and he tracks her down to her McMansion. There, one of the funniest fights I have seen on the silver-screen takes place. Kudos to the fight choreographer for making a vicious, yet hilarious, fight come across as painfully believable.
At the house though, things are elevated to “a whole ‘nother level,” as we are introduced to two of Sandy’s partners in crime, Julian (T.I.) and Marisol (Genesis Rodriguez). To put it bluntly, they are killers, and a surprisingly “bad” cameo plays their boss who orders both of the Sandys killed! Also, as an outstanding warrant exists for Sandy, a skip-tracer is also on the scene looking for her, played famously by Robert (T2) Patrick! Paying attention there? You got a TI and a T2 in the same film!
The skiptracer is without scruples, think of him as a kind of Bobba-Fett; he isn’t stopping until he has his woman. He’s not a nice guy, folks.
This is, at its heart, a road-trip movie, and all that comes with that theme follows. There are goofy moments in the car, seedy motels, random characters they come across and even McCarthy’s real life husband, Ben Falcone, surprisingly not Mike (Billy Gardell) makes an appearance. This is an adult movie, there are adult themes, and when you meet Big Chuck, you just can’t look away. His scenes will either terrify you or have you laughing til it hurts.
With a bit more heart than I was expecting, Identity Thief does a great job keeping you engaged in the characters, caring about their fate, and rooting for the little guy, or in some cases, the big girl. You may cry, but you will definitely laugh at all the McCarthy/Bateman insanity. In classic Bateman fashion, he throws out these little one-liners under his breath, and McCarthy gives it right back. Some of the scenes may be a bit tacked on, or be just a little too convenient . . . . like when airbags decide to employ, or how two people manage to turn a van back on its side. But, every comedy has some plot holes, and at some point you just have to live with it and realize the film-makers are doing you a favor by skipping the boring, tedious parts and getting to the moving dialog and the great comedy.
When everything comes to a conclusion, you shouldn’t be too disappointed in this Seth Gordon directed flick, and there is actually a nice message involved. McCarthy has a really heart-warming moment in front of the camera where she shows off her serious acting skills. She really is an incredibly talented thespian, and she can throw a mean throat-punch!
It would be a crime to miss Identity Thief. This article is also available on NerdSpan – Identity Thief
