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Identity Thief
Starring Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Amanda Peet, Morris Chestnut
Directed by Seth Gordon



Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) is living the American dream.  He has a great job with a loving wife (Amanda Peet), two adorable children and one more on the way.  But things start going downhill for him when he finds that his boss (Jon Favereau) denied him a bonus so he could get more money, so he and his fellow co-workers decide to start their own company.

Meanwhile, in Florida, con-artist Diana (Melissa McCarthy) has stolen Sandy's identity and is raking up bills on false credit cards, and was even arrested for disorderly conduct.  This news travels to Denver, where the real Sandy lives, and turns his life upside down.  His finances disappear, and the police arrest him for jumping bail in Florida.  He discovers that his identity has been stolen, but the police are powerless to help, so he travels to Florida himself to bring Diana to justice.

What follows is a cross-country caper with two unlikely friends who at first hate each other but, as the miles and the danger intensify, begin to rely on one another.  A gang of bounty hunters and criminals are after Diana, which intensifies the travel time in hopes of getting her to Denver so she can come clean to Sandy's boss and give him back his good name.

Melissa McCarthy is a comedic genius, using every bit of her life to her advantage in making you roll out of your seat in laughter.  Unfortunately, "Identity Thief" is soft on the laughter, although there were some truly laugh out loud moments, but most of the time the jokes fell sort of flat.  I felt like I had seen this film before, and I remember "Due Date" with Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr., which has a lot of similar undertones, but was done in a much more comedic way.

Still, the film had its funny moments, and even some sentimental ones delivered by McCarthy, who could turn on the comedic timing as well as the dramatic, tear-jerking moments in the blink of an eye.  Sure, it's a typical comedic film with the typical ending and typical plot, but it was still an enjoyable predictable film.  Bateman and McCarthy will surely join the long list of great mismatched comedic duos.

My Rating: B+

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