Identity Thief

Identity Thief—Directed by Seth Gordon/ starring Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, John Cho, Clark Duke/screenplay written by Craig Mazin, from a story by Jerry Eeten and Craig Mazin/running time:111 mins /rated:R

Bifocal Review by Ageless1der Barbara Rich and The Other Guy

(B) Very easily this film could go directly to video. This is a movie you might see when you have nothing else of value to do.  There are some scenes that were funny, but many more were just felt like jokes I had heard before. Bateman and McCarthy did what they did best and were very at home in their roles. However, I would like to see them step out of these molds and spread their wings a little. I liked the ending better than the beginning, and I like a funny, happy movie. So, I don’t want to discourage anyone from having a good laugh, but compared to the other films I’ve seen in a theater this year, I give it two out of FIVE binoculars. I’ve been lobbying for a change in our Binocular Scale, and four was never enough for me. So, from now on, the most possible is five and the least is what I call a monocle.

(OG) I wish I HAD missed this one. Really. My only laughs were out of desperation. When I go to a movie (and spend LOTS of money to get into the theater) I WANT to be entertained at a level that is somewhat equal to the time it took me to earn the cost of admission. I like both Bateman and McCarthy and the pairing should have yielded much more, in my opinion. They tried, they really tried, but neither one could save this turkey. I’ve seen some truly great films this year and I’ve seen some that were merely worth the price of admission, because I was entertained. This was neither of those, for me. I would have been very happy to catch parts of this on cable, sometime in the distant future, with the option to visit the fridge or bathroom while the movie ate up a couple of hours…because that’s where it should be headed...post haste. Since I’ve already spent too much on this film, one binocular and one monocle are all I can spare. Identity was not the only thing stolen by this unfunny film.