Comedy crime caper

Having suffered from identity theft myself when I was living in London, I wanted to see how director Seth Gordon would flip a very serious matter into a comical one.

However, after watching the trailer, I knew this film would leave me in stitches.

Admittedly, the plot was fairly unbelievable, but what movie isn’t? It’s all in the fun of pretending for 111 minutes that this could actually be happening right now, somewhere in the US.        
I think I found my new favourite comedienne in Melissa McCarthy, after all I see many similarities between us, and I’m not just talking about our size or our ability to sing.

Gordon is known for his comedic subject matter, seen in films like Four Christmases and Horrible Bosses … and he makes it work every time.

Sandy Bigelow Patterson, played by Bateman, is an internal accountant for a very successful firm. However, he isn’t getting paid much and hasn’t received a bonus in three years. He’s a dull but relaxed guy who is married, has two kids and another on the way.

When it’s clear that he won’t be getting a promotion, he joins a small group of his co-workers in a new venture that will finally pay him what he’s worth.

His life seems almost perfect - that is until he gives all personal information to a caller claiming to be someone from the credit company … and that’s when the audience is introduced to Diana (McCarthy), the imposter who steals people’s identity for a living.

Diana lives in Florida and is living the high-life on Sandy’s credit. It just so happens his ‘unisex’ name is applicable in a situation like this.

However, when she goes a little overboard, her illegal actions threaten to wreck Sandy’s new job. The police can’t arrest her without evidence, so he tracks her down himself.

Things don’t go so smoothly while in Florida and the pair end up going on a road trip back to Denver. Along the way a number of dodgy characters want her in jail or dead, which causes one hilarious scene after another.

Both the real and fake Sandy end up working together to save their lives and a new friendship blossoms out of the adventure.

Bateman and McCarthy are the perfect duo. Bateman is pretty much playing the same character he does in all his movies – responsible man with charm and sensibility – but, he still does an excellent job at making the viewer shift from anger to love for Diana. At times I was even on the verge of crying.

McCarthy has a great comedic talent. She was an excellent choice for the role. I’m sure there are plenty of criminals who have taken notes from her. Even when she’s being pushed into a wall, entertainingly making a joke out of her own physicality or even showing some heartfelt emotion, she steals the scene. She delivers the right amount of wit and charm with a blend of wickedness.

The supporting characters, including rapper T.I. and Genesis Rodriguez as two gangsters on the hunt to kill Diana, seemed to force funny moments though.

Eric Stonestreet has a cameo, which made for some enjoyable moments, but I think he should stick to playing Cam on Modern Family as its more his forte.

Unfortunately, most of the best bits are shown in the trailer, so try to avoid watching it beforehand.

Regardless, it was funny, enjoyable and sort of makes me wish I had enjoyed the same experience with my own identity thief. That, however, was reality and remains a truly miserable memory.

*Showing in Cineco, Seef II, Saar Cineplex, Al Jazeera Cineplex, Dana Cinema