Jason Bateman is sort of becoming the Ryan Reynolds of comedy - a nice, talented actor who can't seem to find his way into a good movie. Identify Thief, then, is the latest in a long line of comedy ventures that aren't worth the man's talents. One of the things that a lot of comedy movies had in common this year is their inherent mean-spiritness - unlikeable characters doing nasty, questionable things. Identify Thief was no exception: it's impossible to go along with it all. Bateman plays a man whose identity is stolen by Melissa McCarthy, and he sets out to track her down, an act which eventually culminates in a kind of road trip, as the two must learn to get along and... you get the idea. Fact is, the premise could have made for a fairly good comedy, given its simplicity and the talents of its two lead actors, but it's far too messy and plotless to work. In fact, there are very few laughs in the movie at all: one of 2013's most unsatisfying comedies.
