Identity Thief
When a mild-mannered businessman learns his identity has been stolen, he hits the road in an attempt to foil the thief -- a trip that puts him in the path of a deceptively harmless-looking woman.
What critics thought
Critics were broadly dismissive of Identity Thief, finding its road-comedy premise undisciplined and its script unworthy of its leads. The dominant argument was that Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman were genuinely talented performers stranded in material that either wasted their chemistry or actively undercut their timing. The film also generated off-screen controversy when one critic's review drew widespread condemnation for its attacks on McCarthy's weight.
“gives a performance leagues better than anything to be expected in a mainstream, early-in-the-year release, padding a typically sketched character with layers of hilarity and pathos.”
R. Kurt Osenlund·Slant Magazine
“It wants to be "Midnight Run" meets "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," but it carries little of the dramatic heft and real-world semi-plausibility of those much superior efforts.”
Richard Roeper·Chicago Sun-Times
“This feels a lot like some of the recent, unwatchable Adam Sandler offerings: boorish, unfunny comedy colliding with saccharine, quasi-dramatic filler.”
James Berardinelli·ReelViews
“its overfamiliar comic setups and shameless gag-recycling if the movie's second half didn't make such an abrupt about-face from soliciting our revulsion to begging for our pity.”
Dana Stevens·Slate
“Melissa McCarthy proves she's got what it takes to carry a feature, however meager the underlying material.”
Peter Debruge·Variety
Genres
Comedy, Crime
Cast & Crew
Seth GordonDirector
Jason BatemanSandy Patterson
Melissa McCarthyDiana
Jon FavreauHarold Cornish
Amanda PeetTrish Patterson
T.I.Julian
Genesis RodriguezMarisol
Morris ChestnutDetective Reilly
John ChoDaniel Casey
Robert PatrickSkiptracer
Eric StonestreetBig Chuck
Jonathan BanksPaul
Ryan GaulBartender
Christopher LennertzComposer
Craig MazinWriter
Javier AguirresarobeCinematographyIdentity Thief
When a mild-mannered businessman learns his identity has been stolen, he hits the road in an attempt to foil the thief -- a trip that puts him in the path of a deceptively harmless-looking woman.
What critics thought
Critics were broadly dismissive of Identity Thief, finding its road-comedy premise undisciplined and its script unworthy of its leads. The dominant argument was that Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman were genuinely talented performers stranded in material that either wasted their chemistry or actively undercut their timing. The film also generated off-screen controversy when one critic's review drew widespread condemnation for its attacks on McCarthy's weight.
“gives a performance leagues better than anything to be expected in a mainstream, early-in-the-year release, padding a typically sketched character with layers of hilarity and pathos.”
R. Kurt Osenlund·Slant Magazine
“It wants to be "Midnight Run" meets "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," but it carries little of the dramatic heft and real-world semi-plausibility of those much superior efforts.”
Richard Roeper·Chicago Sun-Times
“This feels a lot like some of the recent, unwatchable Adam Sandler offerings: boorish, unfunny comedy colliding with saccharine, quasi-dramatic filler.”
James Berardinelli·ReelViews
“its overfamiliar comic setups and shameless gag-recycling if the movie's second half didn't make such an abrupt about-face from soliciting our revulsion to begging for our pity.”
Dana Stevens·Slate
“Melissa McCarthy proves she's got what it takes to carry a feature, however meager the underlying material.”
Peter Debruge·Variety
Genres
Comedy, Crime
Cast & Crew
Seth GordonDirectorJason BatemanSandy PattersonMelissa McCarthyDianaJon FavreauHarold CornishAmanda PeetTrish PattersonT.I.JulianGenesis RodriguezMarisolMorris ChestnutDetective ReillyJohn ChoDaniel CaseyRobert PatrickSkiptracerEric StonestreetBig ChuckJonathan BanksPaulRyan GaulBartenderChristopher LennertzComposerCraig MazinWriterJavier AguirresarobeCinematography