IDENTITY THIEF
US, 2012.
Jason Bateman, Melissa Mc Carthy, Amanda Peet, Jon Favreau, Robert Patrick, John Cho.
Directed by Seth Gordon.
This review comes with a caution: if you are male and your name is Sandy, be prepared for lots jokes at the expense of Sandy being either a man’s name or a woman’s name, even after the final credits.
This is another of those American comedies, so popular in recent years, which begin raucously and end up rather sweetly and morally, something which the screenplay in the first half or more would not necessarily encourage you to believe that it could happen. It is directed by Seth Gordon, whose previous film (similar in tone and humour) was Horrible Bosses. Jason Bateman was one of the stars, put-upon by his horrible boss, Kevin Spacey. Now, he takes up a similar kind of character whose horrible boss is Jon Favreau.
But that encounter may be one of the least of his worries. When his credit card is refused at a service station and cut in half, matters begin to crumble for him. Someone is using his cards and identity in Florida. He is far away in Colorado; his wife is pregnant with their third child; he has just taken a job risk to combine with bankers who have found the boss so horrible that they are walking out to set up another company; and, then, the police say they can do very little because of jurisdictions; then it gets worse when his arrested and charged with missing a parole hearing.
We, of course, are in the know. We have seen Diana (Melissa McCarthy) forging his cards and going on drinking sprees, shopping sprees, beauty parlour sprees. She is not a nice lady.
This is a road trip comedy because Sandy goes to Florida to bring back his identity thief to establish his innocence. On the way there are all kinds of mix-ups, including drug-dealer assassins as well as a local bail bondsman in pursuit. There is a lot of slapstick comedy with the odd couple, the buttoned-up Sandy on his mission and the extroverted, garrulous and scruple-less Diana clashing and clashing. There are chases and car-crashes, snakes in the woods, as well as some more credit card fraud on the way home. There are also some quite raunchy sequences and rude jokes.
Many audiences have found the plot too haphazard and unbelievable. It is and strains credibility and, with plot-holes galore, strains plausibility (detectives and their inability to help, assassins and their boss in prison, the bounty hunter chase, getting away with it all). But, it’s not that kind of comedy. Leave plausibility behind and accept what is offered!
Jason Bateman is very good at and convincing in this kind of long-suffering role. Melissa McCarthy? uses here big frame and bumptious personality - to be big and bumptious. The Jud Appatow Syndrome is relevant again. As in his comedies and those like them, the beginning is more than a touch chaotic and redemption doesn’t seem to be on offer. But, by the end of the film, there it is, American hopeful style. It’s lightly amusing escapist fare.
1. A popular entertainment? Raucous? Raunchy? Moving to moralising?
2. The cast, their comic skills, the director? A trend of 21st century comedy?
3. The reality of identity theft and fraud? Exaggeration for comic purposes, but making the point?
4. The credibility of the plot, perhaps not, but many aspects plausible?
5. Jason Bateman as Sandy, the jokes about his name and people expecting a woman? His work, accounts, the satire on banks, the boring work? The satire on confidence tricksters? Slapstick? Work and bosses? Irony of promotions? The police and their stances?
6. The police discover in the prologue, the card, coming to arrest Sandy, in jail, the police and the regulations, not helping him? The information and the truth? His having no recourse?
7. His family situation, financial pressures, his wife, pregnancy, the children, her agreeing that he should go to Florida?
8. Sandy and Diana, Diana taking the name, the address, in operation is, profligate, big spending an extravagant, self-indulgent, no regard for others?
9. The subplot of the criminals, their background, the connection with Diana, the pursuit, their violence? Threats to Sandy and Diana?
10. Sandy meeting Diana, the initial clash, her physical violence, her being odd, each taking control and vice versa, in the car, her inability to run fast, their eventually traveling together? Sandy and his hopes of getting her back home, for his innocence?
11. The aspects of antagonism, injustice, Sandy and his patience? Diana provocative?
12. The driving, the pursuit, the episodes, the meals, stay overs, Diana and the sexual encounter, the man, the touch of the raunchy and gross? Humorous?
13. The debt collector, his character, his being employed, his part in the pursuit, the shock of his death?
14. On the American road, the landscapes, the gradual bonding of the two, the motels, and the railway station, the cars, in the forest, the snakes?
15. St. Louis, the issue of money, the horrible boss and his treatment of Sandy, their using the cards, in the restaurant? The hotel clerk and his bewilderment?
16. The arrests, the return home, sorting the issues out, Sandy, reunited with his wife? The police? His job?
17. Diana, going voluntarily to the police, going to jail, studying, the contacts maintained?
18. The blend of the funny with pathos, character portraits? Situations, contemporary fraud and issues of morality, right and wrong?
