Identity Thief

You are continually hearing in the news stories of people who have their identity stolen. So it was strange that it took so long for Hollywood to make a film about it.
Writers Craig Mazin and Jerry Eeten have come up with an excellent idea here for a comedy. It is a shame they are not able to live up to the concept. The set up is well done with an average guy going after a woman who has stolen his name and racked up a huge credit card bill. The fact that Diana is a fairly lightweight thief does diminish the tension a little. But this is a comedy so she cannot be too threatening like you expect most identity thieves to be. One of the many problems with the script is that Craig and Jerry felt that the personality clash between Sandy and Diana as well as their forced road trip was not enough conflict for the film they had to go and add a bounty hunter and two drug dealers as well. Those extra characters do not really add to the story and really only pad out an already overly long film. You could easily cut these people out of the film and it would not have much effect. Also sadly Craig and Jerry have not made the film very funny. Director Seth Gordon has done an excellent job in the past with making films very funny but he does not seem to be able to do that here.
While Jason Bateman pretty much plays the same character in all his films he usually does it with a great deal of humour. Sadly, as mentioned above, he is let down by a very unfunny script. His character is a little bit week willed as well and not a forceful as he should have been. However Melissa McCarthy gets most of the good laughs just by being the outrageous character she is. It is almost worth seeing the film just for her. The rest of the cast have small roles but do not make much impact. Except maybe Eric Stonestreet as a guy Diana picks up in a bar.
I feel that this is one of those films that seems funnier in a crowded cinema. Sometimes a film needs a laugh track to remind you when to laugh.