IDENTITY THIEF (HOLLYWOOD CRIME COMEDY)

Directed by Seth Gordon, Produced by Scott Stuber and Pamela Abdy, Starring Jason Bateman and Melissa Mc Carthy. Music by Christopher Lennertz.

Storyline: Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) is an accountant in a multinational firm, living in Denver with his pregnant wife and two daughters. He struggles to make his ends meet due to low salary for a long time. Just at this moment, his credit card identity gets stolen through a fake call from a woman (Melissa). She is a professional identity thief with card printing machine and does this to live a lavish life at the expense of others. Sandy realizes one day about his stolen identity when his credit card gets declined in a petrol station, due to his outstanding dues on the card. Sandy almost loses his new job due to involvement of police and vows to prove his innocence by getting hold of the imposter. He finds her in Colorado and struggles to get her back to Denver and make her confess her guilt. During the journey, he develops a soft corner for her when he learns that she is an orphan and without a proper identity or a person to care for her, which shaped her behavior. Similarly, she also respects Sandy for his true gentleman nature and after meeting his beautiful small family. She finally confesses her fraud to the police and helps Sandy retain his job and good name once again. In return Sandy Patterson fetches her a new name and a her true identity forever, from government records.

Positives: A soft comedy with crime of a different nature mixed in right proportions. Melissa’s performance has taken the lion’s share of the movie. Her chubby body shape gives scope for enough comedy scenes. Nice car chases.

Negatives: The story is not new and nothing novel in the idea. Crime model is not practical as such fraudulent usage of credit cards can be easily traced and curbed due to latest technology. Involvement of some hooligans trying to get hold of Melissa seemed to be unnecessary. Comedy scenes are limited to Melissa and more of emotion linked to Jason’s role. A movie that need not be for home collection but can be viewed once.

My rating is 2.5 out of 5