Chaotic comedy not so wild

MOVIE

Identity Thief (MA 15+)

Reviewer: Mark Naglazas

Deep in the bowels of Universal Pictures, there exists an earlier draft of the screenplay of Identity Thief in which the larcenous lady of the title was to be played by a hottie.

But someone had the bright idea of making Bridesmaids’ bulldozer Melissa McCarthy the eponymous identity thief, adding so many kilos and so much aggression to the brazen master criminal that her victim (played by Jason Bateman) is not just fleeced but flattened.

Indeed, the set-up unleashes the fabulous McCarthy to do what she does best — flood a movie with a wave of unruly femininity and hijack the foul-mouthed language, sexually explicit humour and all-round energy we love in our male comics.

But the problem with McCarthy taking on the traditional babe role in what’s essentially a screwball comedy is there is no chance that Jason Bateman’s unsuspecting accountant, who must track down the woman who steals his identity, will get romantically involved with her (he’s also given a cute wife and kids to shut down that possible line of action).

Indeed, Identity Thief, for all its politically incorrect humour, which is mainly centred on McCarthy hitting on every man who crosses her path, is not about Bateman learning he needs to loosen up in order to get on in the world but about neutralising a big girl gone wild.

Thus Identity Thief is a lot more tame than you might have expected from the trailers and the presence of Oscar-nominee McCarthy.