A certain tendency in the American cinema...

...is perhaps too-well exemplified in Identity Thief, a rather remarkably terrible picture I review for MSN Movies. 

Also out this week, and somewhat less terrible, but not that great alas, is A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III. 

Comments

[Brian Z]

Identity Thief is utter garbage and am happy to see you eviscerate it. A lazy, mean and way too long piece of shit.

[David Ehrenstein]

I don't understand why this woman is considered appealing.

[Chris L.]

She was very effective in a different, more thoughtful universe on Gilmore Girls. To succeed in high-budget movies, persons of a certain shape must apparently debase themselves by jettisoning all traces of wit and warmth from their persona, to be replaced by bodily-function "humor." Not exactly new, but sad.

[Millsteam Pigworker]

God help me, I really want to know how it gets worse.

Also, two hour (plus!) runtimes are killing comedy as we know it.

[Greg Moon]

McCarthy's career just depresses the frilly heck out of me. In seven seasons of 'Gilmore Girls' there was not one single fat joke about her, not one insult, not one degrading moment or humiliation. And since the show ended, that's pretty much ALL she's done. 'Mike & Molly', 'Bridesmaids', her SNL appearance and, well, this. It's like one long, never-ending "It Gets Better" PSA, but in reverse. With the filmmakers, and the audience (and, hey, why not - Rex Reed) playing the part of the bullies.

[That Fuzzy Bastard]

Yeah---for a while, her career has seems liked a demonstration of how much more sophisticated American television is than American mainstream movies.

[jbryant]

This is not a good movie, but McCarthy gives a fine performance in my opinion, even as she's saddled with an unbelievable character. I take Glenn's point that many modern comedies allow their narrative to derail while the actors improv their hearts out, and McCarthy is definitely guilty of that (she seems to favor non sequiturs and outrageous exaggerations that sometimes fall flat). But she's a superb actress, and her comedic and dramatic skills saved many a cliched or unlikely scene. I hope she finds material more worthy of her talent, but if she wants to play leads in the studio system, it's going to be slim pickin's (no pun intended) if she passes on projects like this one.