Blog Archives
Identity Thief (2013)
Identity Thief (2013)
I cannot begin to comprehend how frustrating it would be if somebody stole my identity, my money, ruined my credit, and straight up destroyed my good name. I cannot fathom how angry and upset I would be. Besides wanting to physically hurt that person, I would probably want to do anything and everything in my power to get my identity back and my life back to normal.
Identity Thief is about an upstanding citizen and hardworking father named Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) who gets his identity stolen by a woman (Melissa McCarthy). She systematically destroys his life while running around town having fun on his dime. In order to try to fix the harm that she has caused, Sandy decides to travel across the country to track her down and bring her to justice; a task that proves much more difficult than he anticipated.
The movie was directed by Seth Gordon and written by Craig Mazin and Jerry Eeten.
The rest of the noteworthy cast includes Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Robert Patrick, John Cho, Jonathan Banks, Genesis Rodriguez, and T.I.
I thought that this film was going to be funnier. Don’t get me wrong, it had its moments of hilarity, but it just wasn’t as funny as it looked. However, it is still above average and funnier than a lot of comedies out there these days.
A number of events in the movie were a little too convenient and predictable. Given that it is in fact a movie, some of that is to be expected. However, when convenient things happen too often in movies, it tends to take away from the suspension of disbelief. When things are less believable, they are also less enjoyable. Identity Thief seemed to try a little bit too hard at times and as a result, the film was not as humorous as it otherwise could have been.
Bateman and McCarthy played their characters perfectly. He was a decent, easy going, stand up guy. She pulled off being not nearly as innocent as she looked. The two contrasted very well and the end result was a good amount of uncontrollable laughter.
Peet seemed to simply show up for the money. Her role was not major, but it seemed like she just read her lines without much effort at all.
At times the humor fell short, but I fault the writers for this. A couple of raunchy scenes were way over-the-top and seemed unnecessary. It felt like they were part of the movie simply for the shock value. Instead of those scenes being shocking or funny, they just came off as being cheap and stupid.
Overall Identity Thief is worth seeing and good for a number of laughs.
I rate this movie a 7 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
If you enjoyed Identity Thief, then you will probably like Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) and Due Date (2010) even better.
The Heat (2013)
The Heat (2013)
The Heat is about a hard-working, by-the-book, know-it-all FBI special agent (Sandra Bullock) who is reluctantly partnered with a foul-mouthed, bad-tempered, Boston police officer (Melissa McCarthy) with a knack for breaking the rules. The completely mismatched pair work together to try to stop drug-runners in the Boston area.
The movie was written by Katie Dippold and directed by Paul Feig.
The rest of the notable cast includes Demian Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Thomas F. Wilson, Michael McDonald, Jane Curtin, and Taran Killam.
This movie showed shades of Miss Congeniality (2000) where Bullock played a very similar type of FBI agent. The main difference is that The Heat is way raunchier, obscene humor, mainly due to McCarthy’s character.
The pairing of Bullock and McCarthy is what really made this film work. Their personalities were so different from each other that they absolutely clashed. This resulted in roaring laughter. But, what really made the film was when McCarthy’s winning personality began to rub off on Bullock. Bullock has forever been known to take on the classier, more wholesome roles. Her comedies usually go as far as PG-13 rated humor. Seeing her in an R-rated comedy just made her part even more hysterical.
I will admit that I have only seen Melissa McCarthy in a few movies. She was pretty funny in the parts that I have seen her play. She reminds me of a female more vulgar version of Chris Farley. She is a bigger person like Farley and she always brings a ton of energy to her characters like he did. For a bigger guy, it was always surprising to me how Chris Farley was always all over the place bouncing around with tons of vigor. McCarthy is the same way. Throw comedy into the mix and it’s inevitable that you are bound to laugh uncontrollably. Her character in The Heat was no exception.
This is the best Melissa McCarthy movie that I have seen and perhaps Sandra Bullock’s funniest movie yet. I had expected basically another Miss Congeniality, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much funnier this movie was than that one.
In this world of endless number of sequels and remakes, it is no surprise to me that a sequel to this film is already in the works. Hollywood knows a goldmine when it sees one. They are cashing in while the getting is good. This is one of those instances where I don’t mind. Bring on a sequel. This movie was good for tons of laughs. The next one is bound to be almost as good.
I rate this movie an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
The Hangover Part III (2013)
The Hangover Part III (2013)
The boys are at it again. They’re back for another go-round. Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha all return for more hilarious antics.
Nobody is getting married this time, but with this group, things always have a way of spiraling out of control.
Todd Phillips returns again to write and direct. Ken Jeong, Jeffrey Tambor, Heather Graham, Mike Epps, Sasha Barrese, and Gillian Vigman are all back along with the addition of John Goodman and Melissa McCarthy.
Most sequels to any movie usually can never be as good as the original. There are a few exceptions, and it is always a very welcome surprise when it happens. But, this rarely ever occurs. With that said, I went into this movie hoping that it would be as good as Part II, if not better.
This movie was not quite as formulaic as I expected it to be. Although it was a bit predictable at times, they had a few surprises thrown in and it was not exactly like the first two films.
The type of comedy was different throughout the majority of the movie. This film seemed to tone down the raunchy humor and substitute it for more obvious, subtle, or dark humor. Instead of being so outrageous and over-the-top all of the time like the first two films, this movie concentrated a little bit more on the events in the story taking place.
Cooper, Galifianakis, and Helms were all just as comical as they were in the first two films. The rest of the returning cast is also just as good as they were in the first movies.
Goodman and McCarthy are both great additions to the movie.
If you are a fan of the first two Hangover films, than you will surely enjoy this third movie. I liked this movie just as much as Part II. It did not top the original, but The Hangover Part III is a worthy final chapter of the Wolf Pack saga.
I rate this movie an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Trailer for The Heat (2013)
The Heat (2013) (click on the title for my full review)
Another comedy for Sandra Bullock. This movie looks suspiciously similar to Miss Congeniality (2000). In fact, it could just be part 3 without the oficial title. Everything about The Heat looks similar to Miss Congeniality. We have seen this movie before, twice. I’m sure it will still have its moments of humor, but I think I’ll wait for the DVD.
Besides Bullock, other notable cast includes Melissa McCarthy, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Thomas F. Wilson, Bill Burr, Luis Da Silva Jr., Jamie Denbo, and Michael McDonald.
The movie is directed by Paul Feig and is set to release on 6/28/13.
brockingmovies 