IDENTITY THIEF (D+)

Bottom Line: PLANES TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES meets MIDNIGHT RUN minus the wit, heart, brains, fun, action, laughter…and, again, fun.  There are a few snarky asides, maybe a couple of semi-successful goofball moments but outside of that we’re dealing with a 111 minute lesson on how not to make a funny movie.  I love Bateman, I like McCarthy – but put them under the guidance of lazy direction and feed them dialogue from a much-less-than-half-hearted (heck, call it no-hearted) script and you’re in for a tremendously boring, eternally seat-shifting sit.  I snickered three times (decent jokes), laughed twice (better jokes) and smiled once (the movie ended) – aside from that, however, the rest was a slew of lame gags, unnecessarily convoluted storytelling, far-fetched predicaments and an asinine premise.  Simultaneously trying too hard and not hard enough to entertain, the real THIEF here will be any movie theater gladly taking your money to see this falsely told and timidly flat flick.

Starring: Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy
Directed by: Seth Gordon (HORRIBLE BOSSES and FOUR CHRISTMASES)
Rated: R
Running time: 111 minutes
Story: Unlimited funds have allowed Diana (McCarthy) to live it up on the outskirts of Miami, where the queen of retail buys whatever strikes her fancy. There's only one glitch: The ID she's using to finance these sprees reads "Sandy Bigelow Patterson"....and it belongs to an accounts rep (Bateman) who lives halfway across the U.S. With only one week to hunt down the con artist before his world implodes, the real Sandy Bigelow Patterson heads south to confront the woman with an all-access pass to his life. And as he attempts to bribe, coax and wrangle her 2,000 miles to Denver, one easy target will discover just how tough it is to get your name back. -- (C) Official Site

Trailer: www.identitythiefmovie.com