Identity Thief

[BillBrasky]

Release Date: February 8, 2013
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Seth Gordon
Screenwriter: Steve Conrad, Craig Mazin
Starring: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Amanda Peet, John Cho, Clark Duke, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Mary-Charles Jones, Jon Favreau, Genesis Rodriguez, Eric Stonestreet
Genre: Comedy

Seth Gordon, most recently the helmer of "Horrible Bosses", has secured the job of directing "Identity Thief", re-teaming him with Bosses leading man Jason Bateman.

The film, which will also star Melissa McCarthy, features Bateman's character as the victim of an identity theft by her character. Originally written for a male character on the criminal end of things, the script has reportedly been rewritten specifically for McCarthy. Steve Conrad ("The Weather Man", "The Pursuit of Happyness") wrote the first draft with subsequent rewrites by Craig Mazin ("The Hangover, Part II").

Shooting on Identity Thief (not to be confused with the seemingly defunct Tracy Morgan comedy "ID Theft", originally announced early last year) is planned for April 2012 to take advantage of the "Mike & Molly" hiatus.

[Gluehead]

I'm a huge fan of Steve Conrad, I think The Weather Man and The Promotion are two of the more underrated comedies of the past few years, so I'm hoping that his dryer sense of humour survived the rewrites and we don't end up with something generic.

[aenemaTron]

I agree that the Weather Man was good. No one had any reason to expect it would be, unfortunately.

[BillBrasky]

[Gluehead]

This looks an awful lot like Due Date and no movie should want to look an awful lot like Due Date.

[smartbunny]

I just don't know. Movies where someone handles a situation that should be handled in a proper way in a really roundabout do-it-yourself take the law into your own hands way... I just don't know.

[nickyp123]

I like the premise, and I love Bateman as a straight man, but the trailer doesn't hit the jokes that the premise could. I'll look into this as the release date gets closer, but right now I'm not too jazzed up about this.

[BillBrasky]

Is there really a way for a woman to steal a man's identity, even if that man has a feminine first name? I know that some stores can be lax about checking to make sure that you have a photo ID that matches what you look like, but surely Jason Bateman's ID would say "Male" on it, wouldn't it?

Edit: Ok, I guess the premise of this movie is that she steals his credit card and then uses that to make a fake ID for herself. In which case, I deal with Bank of America, and the minute anything unusual or out of the ordinary happens on my card, they contact me immediately. Why is Bateman allowing it to get to the point where they're asking him about missing his court date in Florida? I'm pretty sure the second some huge purchase went through they would figure out a way to lock use of the card immediately before it got to the "having to track the person down and confront them by running into them with your car" stage.

I guess what I'm saying is the premise of this movie is stupid.

[smartbunny]

Yeah I don't yet understand why this couldn't be resolved through proper channels and why he needs to hunt down Melissa's character but maybe there's a reason.

[BillBrasky]

The far-fetchedness of this premise really drags this movie down a lot. Even if what happens in this movie happened (which I doubt it ever would), I don't think the police would authorize Bateman to become a vigilante and track down McCarthy's character to clear his own name the way they do. Even worse, they drag in Colombian drug dealers and a bounty hunter who are following McCarthy's character around, so that the second half of the movie becomes an annoyingly low-energy thriller rather than a comedy.

McCarthy is a very good actress, who manages to be watchable on screen even with bad material like this, but she can't rise above this unlikeable character or stinker of a script. The few funny things have been spoiled in all the ads that have been running ad nauseum lately.

The comparison to Due Date is a good one, all the "wacky shenanigans" that Bateman and McCarthy become embroiled in become more tiring than funny.

Also, it was weird how in the opening moments of this movie (and then at the end) they play the MIA song ("Bad Girls") that is also heavily featured in the trailer for "The Heat". Maybe that's why they moved "The Heat" to June, to distance it away from this movie so that people would forget about it by the time "The Heat" comes out.

I'm a huge fan of Steve Conrad, I think The Weather Man and The Promotion are two of the more underrated comedies of the past few years, so I'm hoping that his dryer sense of humour survived the rewrites and we don't end up with something generic.

I didn't see Conrad's name anywhere in the writing credits, the only writer credited is Craig Mazin, who has been involved with a lot of crap (the Marlon Wayans movie "Senseless", Scary Movies 3 and 4, and The Hangover Part II)

[AynBannd]

I may or may not see this. I loved Horrible Bosses, and Jason Bateman is funny to me most of the time. But the plot sounds far-fetched, and McCarthy's character looks really grating and unlikable.

[Gluehead]

I didn't see Conrad's name anywhere in the writing credits, the only writer credited is Craig Mazin, who has been involved with a lot of crap (the Marlon Wayans movie "Senseless", Scary Movies 3 and 4, and The Hangover Part II)

Dang, I guess he really didn't survive the rewrites. I definitely have next to no interest in seeing this now then, especially if it's just going to be a mangled by-committee script.

[Ian Brill]

Also, it was weird how in the opening moments of this movie (and then at the end) they play the MIA song ("Bad Girls") that is also heavily featured in the trailer for "The Heat". Maybe that's why they moved "The Heat" to June, to distance it away from this movie so that people would forget about it by the time "The Heat" comes out.

Mazin has a podcast with another screenwriter, John August, called Scriptnotes where he talks a little about the scheduling, on the latest show.

[Shane]

Saw this last night, thought it was decent. There are definitely many worse comedies to go see. There's some really funny parts, but, like Brasky mentioned, the plot is a little weak