Identity Thief – (4 Stars)
This appears to be one of those movies that the audience likes and the critics hate. That’s a good reason to see it. Another good reason is that it is fun to read the professional reviews on line after seeing the movie, since this shows the narrow-mindedness and haughtiness of many movie critics.
If you are an old movie buff, Identity Thief is a treasure house. Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie has to be one of the sources for this film. Further, at the very beginning of his career, young Jason Bateman starred as the lead in a made-for-TV movie, Moving Target, in which he was sent off to a summer camp for musicians, got tired of it, so returned home. The problem was that his parents were gone because their identities had been changed as part of a witness protection program. So he had an empty house that was up for sale to visit but not live in. Worse – much worse – a hit man was out to kill his parents and was shadowing young Bateman’s character (the hit man was brilliantly portrayed by General Hospital’s Jack Wagner). In Identity Thief, Bateman is again on the road, chasing, being chased, and getting into trouble.
The physical comedy and outrageous car chases and crashes are excellent stunt work. The dialog is snappy and often intentionally doesn’t give the viewer time to laugh between the zingers.
But Melissa McCarthy, as the dumpy but street-smart identity thief, makes the movie work. Her character is part Carol Burnett’s washerwoman, part Tippi Hedren’s Marnie, part Orphan Annie and part comedienne Margaret Cho. It’s an incredible combination that works brilliantly, almost as an unanimated classic Bugs Bunny cartoon. Identity Thief dispenses with the Warner Brothers cartoons’ thin disguise of barnyard animals and shows human greed and cruelty so nakedly that the characters are profoundly funny. Even one of the characters shooting another with a handgun is funny. Even the use of a taser to stop the central character is funny. It's comedy worthy of Harold Lloyd or Charles Chaplin.
The bounty hunter and pair of hit gangsters who are out to trap or kill the identity thief get into a war with each other while chasing Bateman and McCarthy, which offers the very funniest moments in the film. Further, the humility of Bateman’s character is nicely contrasted with the amorality of his old boss and the ruthlessness of his new boss.
It’s a short, pointedly relevant, clever movie in which the characters themselves change as they lurch from one car crash to another. This character development is totally missed by many priggish critics who reveal their biases in dissing his movie, which itself is possibly the funniest movie so far in this decade. To appreciate this film, don’t go to see it with the mind of a critic. Just enjoy the action scenes and the comedy so that the enrichment of the characters becomes memorable.
-- by the Blog Author
This appears to be one of those movies that the audience likes and the critics hate. That’s a good reason to see it. Another good reason is that it is fun to read the professional reviews on line after seeing the movie, since this shows the narrow-mindedness and haughtiness of many movie critics.
If you are an old movie buff, Identity Thief is a treasure house. Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie has to be one of the sources for this film. Further, at the very beginning of his career, young Jason Bateman starred as the lead in a made-for-TV movie, Moving Target, in which he was sent off to a summer camp for musicians, got tired of it, so returned home. The problem was that his parents were gone because their identities had been changed as part of a witness protection program. So he had an empty house that was up for sale to visit but not live in. Worse – much worse – a hit man was out to kill his parents and was shadowing young Bateman’s character (the hit man was brilliantly portrayed by General Hospital’s Jack Wagner). In Identity Thief, Bateman is again on the road, chasing, being chased, and getting into trouble.
The physical comedy and outrageous car chases and crashes are excellent stunt work. The dialog is snappy and often intentionally doesn’t give the viewer time to laugh between the zingers.
But Melissa McCarthy, as the dumpy but street-smart identity thief, makes the movie work. Her character is part Carol Burnett’s washerwoman, part Tippi Hedren’s Marnie, part Orphan Annie and part comedienne Margaret Cho. It’s an incredible combination that works brilliantly, almost as an unanimated classic Bugs Bunny cartoon. Identity Thief dispenses with the Warner Brothers cartoons’ thin disguise of barnyard animals and shows human greed and cruelty so nakedly that the characters are profoundly funny. Even one of the characters shooting another with a handgun is funny. Even the use of a taser to stop the central character is funny. It's comedy worthy of Harold Lloyd or Charles Chaplin.
The bounty hunter and pair of hit gangsters who are out to trap or kill the identity thief get into a war with each other while chasing Bateman and McCarthy, which offers the very funniest moments in the film. Further, the humility of Bateman’s character is nicely contrasted with the amorality of his old boss and the ruthlessness of his new boss.
It’s a short, pointedly relevant, clever movie in which the characters themselves change as they lurch from one car crash to another. This character development is totally missed by many priggish critics who reveal their biases in dissing his movie, which itself is possibly the funniest movie so far in this decade. To appreciate this film, don’t go to see it with the mind of a critic. Just enjoy the action scenes and the comedy so that the enrichment of the characters becomes memorable.
-- by the Blog Author
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