Identity Thief (2013) directed by Seth Gordon, 5th March

Plot

Mild mannered conservative Sandy Bigelow Patterson based in Denver, Colorado has had his identity stolen by a lady in Miami, Florida. With his job threatened and the lack of Police action to catch the culprit, Sandy decides to apprehend the harmless looking lady and bring her back to Denver to clear his good name.

Review

Once Sandy has caught up with his doppelganger he realises he cannot fly back to Denver from Florida and must drive back. From here you know it is going to be a road cum buddy movie where initially there is huge animosity between the two but through the road journey they bond and understand each other.

With the premise of catching a harmless compulsive liar what on the surface should be quite straight forward. You know it is not going to be and it should lead to many crazy capers and hair brained situations.

The film should be a lot funnier but unfortunately it is not.The leads are great with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy but unfortunately the script and screen play just lets them down. It is let down because it is bland. The film just feels very pedestrian and there is no roller coaster ride to the film.

Big Chuck (Eric Stonestreet) has a great moment with Melissa McCarthy on the dance floor and Motel scene but all the other actors in the cast don't really get a look in in this film.

There are one or two great scenes especially the Motel scene but apart from this there are no other real highlights.

There also seems to have been a real lost opportunity in the film  with the lack or light use of the Bounty Hunter (Robert Patrick) and the Gangster duo ( Genesis Rodriguez and T.I.) in chasing the two Sandy's across America. There was an opportunity for a Midnight Run like caper.

In the end you know how the film is going to end with the usual redemption story. Alas the film is just executed in a paint by numbers way so the redemption at the end altogether feels quite underwhelming.

This is not a bad film it's just very average. I just had higher expectations and wanted to like this film much more.

6/10