I'm kind of bummed that I am not a fan of this movie. I love Jason Bateman from Arrested Development and pretty much every other movie he's been in (Horrible Bosses, The Change Up, Dodge Ball, etc), and I am really starting to like Melissa McCarthy. I liked Bridesmaid and she was brilliant on SNL.
You have two very funny people and so I'm very confused why what happened with this movie. The trailer looked hilarious, the premise is hilarious, like I said the actors are hilarious but the delivery was unoriginal and a tad awful.
In short, Melissa McCarthy steals Jason Bateman's identity. Jason Bateman needs to bring her in so he can excel in life. He convinces her to come with him back to Denver where he lives and all the while they're being chased by hit men and bounty hunters.
This movie was directed by the same guy who did Horrible Bosses. That movie was really funny, this movie was... kind of funny.
I remember I was about half way and I looked at the time and I said, "We have 45 more minutes of this? Really? Its a two hour long movie and the first half is very forced humor. I think the way it was written and the two actors themselves make it so these two characters clash a little bit too much. I am glad that the minute these two characters began to mesh, the movie got a little bit better. Jokes got funnier and you could actually start kind of empathizing with McCarthy's character.
But that's one of the big problems with this film. These two are so polar opposites that they portray Bateman as this hardworking, family man who you don't want anything bad to happen to. Then you put McCarthy's character who does just that, she steals his identity. But from the very beginning the movie is trying to make you feel bad for McCarthy, cause while she's spending Bateman's money you can tell there is some unresolved friend problem that she has and she's kind of an outcast.
When i saw this I basically said it was Planes, Trains and Automobiles if John Candy had stolen Steve Martin's identity. Same movie. The problem with that is that John Candy didn't steal Martin's identity. In that entire movie, anything Candy did to Martin was due to the fact that he's a bumbling fool and he's obnoxious. Melissa McCarthy's character is obnoxious, definitely not a fool because she's actually a very smart person and knows how to manipulate people. But she is a criminal. She does some really cruel things in this movie to Bateman and with Bateman's character, its hard to overlook.
Furthermore, they have a lot of moments where the movie gets really serious. This isn't just a comedy, its almost a crime drama with a lot of funny parts. I have to give her credit, McCarthy is a very good actor in that she can turn the mood on a dime, however the way its written, it doesn't make sense for the mood to turn that way. Yes McCarthy does it well, but that doesn't make it a good choice. Lots of the times these moments will follow a really raunchy or funny scene and it feels very strange.
Aside from Bateman and McCarthy, they are followed by Robert Patrick, a Bounty Hunter, and T.I. and Genesis Rodriguez who are mobsters who work for a mob boss in jail (who we only see once). McCarthy steals their bosses identity and he wants payback, whereas Robert Patrick is working for someone else you don't see.
The employers aren't that important. The movie is more focused on McCarthy and Bateman that there are times when you totally forget about the pursuers. They have a couple funny scenes and they eventually are fighting each other. I think if there had been a couple more scenes with these two going after each other, I think it would have been a lot better. Genesis Rodriguez was very attractive, T.I. had a couple good lines, and Robert Patrick was very funny. I just think it could have been done better.
In short, this movie was a little more serious that it should have been. The trailers focused mostly on the comedy aspect of it and that's what the movie should have done. And if it was going to have serious moments, at least put them in a manner that makes sense.
This week I watched Identity Thief and Django Unchained. I think I'll stick with Tarantino this week.
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