Identity Thief Blu-ray review

Actors: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, John Cho, Amanda Peet, Jon Favreau

Director: Seth Gordon

Writers: Craig Mazin, Jerry Eeten

Producers: Jason Bateman, Dan Kolsrud, Mary Rohlich, Pamela Abdy, Peter Morgan

Format: Color, Widescreen

Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Universal

Release Date: June 4, 2013

Run Time: 111 minutes

         There are far too many similarities between Identity Thief and Due Date, but it only seems to be the bad elements which are similar. Both have a straight man and an outrageous personality trapped together on a cross-country road trip, and both expect the audience to believe that the straight man somehow begins to care for the absurd personality by the end of the film. In Due Date this is slightly more believable, if only because one of them isn’t a criminal who stole the other person’s identity.

 

         Jason Bateman plays Sandy Patterson, a man whose feminine sounding name makes it easier for Diana (Melissa McCarthy) to steal his identity. The police won’t help to track her down because she is out of state, and the film provides a less than believable excuse for Sandy to travel across the country to track her down himself. When he finds her and finally convinces her to travel back with him to confess, they must drive instead of flying because of the fact that they share the same name. I’m not really sure why Diana couldn’t just use her real ID, but this is just an excuse for road hijinks and another plot point which can’t be examined too closely.

 

I know I am not spoiling any endings by telling you that Diana and Sandy eventually become friends. This is harder to believe than anything else in this contrived film, but the worst offense of the film is how few laughs that there are. McCarthy is just loud and vulgar and Bateman is just the usual bumpkin. They have played these roles before in far better films. Watch those instead.

 

The Blu-ray special features include a making-of featurette and a gag reel, which are also on the DVD. Exclusive to the Blu-ray disc are select alternate takes, a featurette on the humor of Identity Thief, if you can find it, and a tour of the Skiptracer’s van. The package also has a digital copy of the film.

 

Entertainment Value: 5/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 4/10

Historical Significance: 1/10

Disc Features: 5/10