Identity Theft (Quick Review) (1 Viewer)

[mattCR]

Interesting beginning with a few funny jokes, but come the setup is completely implausible. There were too many really lame moments that didn't help advance the storyline and the setup was a bit too silly. But the film goes completely off the rails about 1/2 way through, when the pair reach St. Louis and.. well, you just have to see it. It's a quick way to make the remainder of the film a teeth grinding "I hate everyone" moment. I couldn't explain how they could have that setup in the film and not expect the audience to dislike everyone involved. The ending is also completely ridiculous. D-

 

[Tino]

Huge opening for this flick. $34 million according to deadline.com...twice what they were expecting. Sometimes films are critic proof and this seems to be one of them. I'll catch it on blu.

 

[TravisR]

I don't generally let reviews really sway me from seeing a movie but the reviews on this were so bad that I probably won't bother.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Terrible movie. It's impossible to accept that a conservative guy WHO WORKS IN FINANCE would fall for the scam that leads to the necessary identity theft, and the movie comes packed with many other idiotic moments. Maybe two or three minor laughs in the whole thing, and it's actively, insultingly stupid. D- sounds about right...

 

[AlexF]

I've not seen this (and don't really intend to), and don't know the scam involved, but I can attest to the fact that computer and finance savvy people fall for phishing scams all the time. It's rather sad really.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by AlexF
I've not seen this (and don't really intend to), and don't know the scam involved, but I can attest to the fact that computer and finance savvy people fall for phishing scams all the time.
It's rather sad really.

Someone calls the Bateman characters cell phone and claims to be from a credit protection agency. She says someone tried to steal his identity and they'll sign him up for free if he hands over all sorts of info including DOB and SSN. He goes along with it.
My grandmother knows better than to give out that data, and she died 20 years ago. Sorry, I just don't accept that a tech-savvy person - especially one as conservative and buttoned-down as the Bateman character - would be so dumb.
And that's not the only idiotic story point - it's just the first...

 

[mattCR]

There were two things that infuriated me: Asserting that it couldn't be cleaned up and he'd be wiped out.. call most credit card companies and they will handle it for you.. and everyone knows that. But the bigger one happens when they get to St. Louis and they decide to go in together and steal someone else's identity. Sorry, no matter what she said to the cops in Denver, he'd still be on the hook for that.
One other thing: she had an at-home printer that printed functional credit cards. Let me just say: no.

 

[AlexF]

My grandmother knows better than to give out that data, and she died 20 years ago.  Sorry, I just don't accept that a tech-savvy person - especially one as conservative and buttoned-down as the Bateman character - would be so dumb.

One of my old co-workers (in an IT company) fell for something similar. He was incredibly tech-savvy. Wondered why his computer suddenly got so slow, and why his email accounts (etc) were all suddenly accessed from elsewhere. Tech-savvy people do stupid things sometimes, after some minimal checking for "verification".

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by AlexF
One of my old co-workers (in an IT company) fell for something similar.
He was incredibly tech-savvy. Wondered why his computer suddenly got so slow, and why his email accounts (etc) were all suddenly accessed from elsewhere.
Tech-savvy people do stupid things sometimes, after some minimal checking for "verification".

I still don't buy it, but even if we accept that the Bateman character would fall for it, the movie's so packed with lazy, idiotic writing that it's an insult. It wouldn't have been that tough to think up more realistic scenarios, but they didn't bother.
My friend thought it was hilarious and told me to stop being so critical. I told her to stop accepting insulting filmmaking...

 

[Michael Elliott]

I did a double feature of 21 & OVER and this film today. I'm not sure we should try putting too much logic into a comedy. Yeah, there were easier ways of handling the "issue" in this film but if Bateman had done that the movie would have been over in five minutes and the internet would be full of unhappy people saying they spent $10 on a movie that didn't last as long as the trailer. I work in a bank and there are stupid people everywhere. Doesn't matter if you drop out of 1st grade or are making $10 million a year. I could tell you some amazing stories about stupid people turning over their information. Still, I thought some of the laughs here worked but where the film lost me is when it lacked any guts by trying to make us believe this relationship. There were far too many scenes where they tried to make us "feel" for the female character and it just went on way too long. The final thirty-minutes aren't really about comedy but instead about trying to make us love her. They were obviously going for a PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES approach but it didn't work.

 

[bryan4999]

I think the episode of FRIENDS where Monica's identity is stolen is done much better and more plausibly. That's one episode that still makes me laugh after seeing it 100 times. (S1 EP21, "The One with the Fake Monica")

 

[Tommy R]

I saw this with my wife and I thought it was a perfectly funny comedy. The fact that the movie starts out with Bateman's character stupiudly giving that info over the phone was big laugh for us. I really don't see any justification to nip-picking a movie of this kind.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Tommy R
I saw this with my wife and I thought it was a perfectly funny comedy. The fact that the movie starts out with Bateman's character stupiudly giving that info over the phone was big laugh for us. I really don't see any justification to nip-picking a movie of this kind.

"Identity Thief" goes beyond "nit-picking" criticisms. It's so actively idiotic that it loses points...

 

[Tommy R]

Well, you obviously took the film much more seriously than I did. I found it to be a great little comedy film with lots of laughs and funny scenes. I was dreading the possibility that all the funny scenes were gonna be what was put in the trailer, but luckily that wasn't the case.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Tommy R
Well, you obviously took the film much more seriously than I did. I found it to be a great little comedy film with lots of laughs and funny scenes. I was dreading the possibility that all the funny scenes were gonna be what was put in the trailer, but luckily that wasn't the case.

I "took it seriously" because it was unfunny. If it'd had "lots of laughs", I wouldn't have cared as much about the rampant stupidity, but I didn't find it to be funny. I might've chuckled a few times, but that's it.
I'm happy you liked it, but it's not correct to paint everyone who hated it as "taking it too seriously". I thought it was simply a thoroughly awful film with next to no redeeming qualities...

 

[Tommy R]

Well, to be fair, I'm not painting "anyone" who doesn't like it as taking it too seriously, just you. You even confirmed my claim in your following post. I just think it's kind of ammusing when someone who doesn't like a film as much as you do posts repeatedly about it. Reminds me of when I still posted on the IMDb boards. It is a kind of stupid movie, and I remember groaning when I saw the trailer, but my wife's whisper of "that looks really funny, baby", told me I was gonna be dragged to see it. But then I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It's not "The Hangover" or "Bridesmaids" calibre (two movies I think are the best "R" rated comedies of recent years), but it was a cute and quaint little flick that gave me lots of laughs.

 

[TonyD]

"Identity Thief" goes beyond "nit-picking" criticisms.  It's so actively idiotic that it loses points...

I "took it seriously" because it was unfunny.  If it'd had "lots of laughs", I wouldn't have cared as much about the rampant stupidity, but I didn't find it to be funny.  I might've chuckled a few times, but that's it. I'm happy you liked it, but it's not correct to paint everyone who hated it as "taking it too seriously".  I thought it was simply a thoroughly awful film with next to no redeeming qualities...

This is exactly what me and my wife said after watching it. It was an ok movie but it just wasn't very funny. Ebert defined these movies as idiot plot. The Idiot Plot A plot that requires all the characters to be idiots. If they weren't, they'd immediately figure out everything and the movie would be over. I work at a theater and I promise this is true, every single person who i saw buy a ticket for this called it Identity Theft instead of Thief.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by TonyD
This is exactly what me and my wife said after watching it.
It was an ok movie but it just wasn't very funny.
Ebert defined these movies as idiot plot.
The Idiot Plot
A plot that requires all the characters to be idiots.
If they weren't, they'd immediately figure out everything and the movie would be over.
I work at a theater and I promise this is true, every single person who i saw buy a ticket
for this called it Identity Theft instead of Thief.

I saw it called that so many times I started to wonder if "Identity Theft" WAS the title!

 

[Jason_V]

But the film goes completely off the rails about 1/2 way through, when the pair reach St. Louis and.. well, you just have to see it. It's a quick way to make the remainder of the film a teeth grinding "I hate everyone" moment. I couldn't explain how they could have that setup in the film and not expect the audience to dislike everyone involved.

Does it ever. I was following the movie until this point and then it just went completely off the rails. I didn't like the justification for it. I didn't like Jason Bateman went along with it. I didn't like it period. I'm sure someone was trying to make a socio-economic point...but it was completely out of character. The end was just terrible all around, to be fair.