Although its original release date with August of this year, director Seth Gordon’s Identity Thief will open in theatres tonight at midnight. The film is ultimately about a sociopathic identity-stealer from Florida who manages to steal the social security number and other personal information from Sandy Bigelow Patterson, a dull-drum businessman from Colorado.
Identity Thief stars Melisa McCarthy as Diana, the woman who impersonates Sandy in order to buy lavish things and spend all her time partying and breaking the law. McCarthy landed her breakout comedic role in 2011’s Bridesmaids, in which she played Megan, the sister of the groom. McCarthy was nominated for over twenty different various awards for her role as Megan, and won at least eight, including The Comedy Awards award for best comedic actress in a film.
Playing the role of Sandy is Jason Bateman, most recently known for his comedic roles in 2011’s Horrible Bosses and The Change-Up.
Although the two stars coming together sounds like it a recipe for a gut-bursting comedy, critics have noted otherwise, and even fans seem skeptical. A critic for timeout.com writes, “No matter how may times Identity Thief switches tracks, nothing works—it fails as a star vehicle, a recession-era satire, a WTF white-collar-grunt revenge tale, a Midnight Run–style buddy flick, a gross-out laugh fest and a pathetic tale of broken souls. No amount of stolen guises can fix it.” On the other hand, Cole Smithey, a movie critic blogger, writes that “2013 is Melisa McCarthy’s year,” and that the film is a “laugh-out-loud road movie of opposites.”
The film also stars Jon Favreau as Bateman’s boss, Amanda Peet and T.I.

By Danielle Taus