REVIEW: Comedy ruined with awkward, bad acting

In recent years, comedy has dropped so low that “funny” is no longer the word to describe the genre.  The latest example of this is “Identity Thief.”

The plot is as straightforward as the title — Jason Bateman has his identity stolen by Melissa McCarthy. One catch is that he is from Colorado and the thief is from Florida, and state police cannot arrest a person from another state, so Bateman has to travel through the so-called “Sunshine State” to grab her.  Another catch, less fair than the former, is that he has to bring the thief to Colorado in one week.  Logically, driving your car from Colorado to Florida and back takes longer than seven days.

I feel very sorry for Bateman. In the movie, he is the only voice of reason in an adventure overrun by idiots who think they are funny but really are not. He has to endure getting his credit card cut, losing his car to an incoming truck after an underwhelming chase scene, defending himself from a weakly computer animated snake and worst of all, trying to sleep in a cheap motel while McCarthy and a cowboy who has no major plot point party wildly.

McCarthy as the thief is a selfish, amoral, lying, manipulative, disgusting and potty-mouthed headache. Any line or action she takes that is supposed to be funny provokes either a roll on the eyes or a facepalm on my part. She does have moments of character development, but it is both forced and awkward.

There is also a pointless subplot where two young agents and a bounty hunter go at each other’s throats to capture McCarthy. The agents’ motives are explained, but only vaguely, while the bounty hunter’s motives are never explained. Their conflicts are never resolved and we never figure out what they really want with the main thief.

“Identity Thief” is unfunny, unentertaining and unworthy of the money I spent to watch it.

I give it 2 stars out of 5.