Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) directs the February comedy/crime flick Identity Thief, which teams up Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) and Melissa McCarthy (Bridemaids) as a very odd couple: a straight-laced businessman and the outrageous criminal who empties his bank account after stealing his identity.
The first Identity Thief trailer emphasizes the contrast between Bateman as the unwitting schmo and McCarthy’s cartoonish, frizzled-haired law-breaker. Today, we have a new theatrical promo that dives deeper into the plot and better accounts for the madness that ensues when these two people’s worlds collide.
All things considered, this new preview is an improvement on its predecessor. For starters, it provides an actual explanation as to why Bateman treks across the U.S. in order to capture McCarthy on his own. Moreover, introducing Genesis Rodriguez (Man on a Ledge, The Last Stand) – as a Latino crook (drug lord?) who wants McCarthy’s head – sets the stage for more than just a wash-rinse-and-repeat plot, where Bateman’s attempts to capture the latter are continually (and comically) foiled ad nauseum.
Bateman and McCarthy seems like terrific matches for their respective Identity Thief roles, playing their knacks for deadpan delivery and raunchy slapstick off one another. That also goes for how Bateman’s Midwestern plainness is juxtaposed with McCarthy’s Floridian wildness – without being mean-spirited or over-obvious when it comes to emphasizing that culture clash, that is.
However, the problem is that screenwriter Craig Mazin has something of a track record, when it comes to crafting comedies that cannot sustain their high-concepts and end up repeating the same (unfunny) jokes over and over (see: Scary Movie 4, Superhero Movie, The Hangover Part II).
Then again, Gordon’s films tend to get by on the strengths of their main cast (see: Horrible Bosses vs. Four Christmases). Identity Thief might manage likewise.
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Identity Thief opens in theaters on February 8th, 2013.
