Identity Thief

In the Judd Apatow-produced, Paul Feig-directed 2011 comedy juggernaut “Bridesmaids,” supporting star Melissa McCarthy was a side-splitting force to be reckoned with: stealing the show from leading lady Kristen Wiig — partly down to her bullish, boisterous charm, partly down to the startling sight of her explosively defecating into a bathroom sink — the former “Gilmore Girls” regular and long-time bit-player was suddenly thrust into the public consciousness, transformed into a household name, showered in global critical acclaim and rightly nominated for an Academy Award. And if she has any wishes to continue this hard-earned, long-overdue success, “Identity Thief” is surely a calamitous misstep.

This poisonously undercooked studio product, in which McCarthy shares top billing with co-star Jason Bateman (“The Change-Up”), claims in its TV spot to be “the year’s first great comedy" — looks like it’s taken its title a bit literally. It comes from the director of “Horrible Bosses,” a darkly comic — though broadly played — murder-scheme farce with a cracking cast and an inspired concept. The concept here — a rowdy scam artist and her latest hapless victim embark on a disastrous road trip together — has equally ripe comic potential, but the barely half-hearted execution falls a hundred miles-or-so too short, Craig Mazin’s (“The Hangover Part II”) woefully witless screenplay leaving any hope of a giggle or two to wither and die by the side of the road.

Still, McCarthy — sticking to her lovable wild-gal persona — does good with rotten material as Diana, a rambunctious crook living the high life in sunny Miami thanks to the unwitting help of Sandy Patterson (Bateman), a mild-mannered pencil-pusher from Denver whose identity Diana has craftily stolen. Sandy, finding his bank account drained and the justice system bafflingly unable to help, decides to travel to Florida himself to personally arrest Diana, bring her back to Colorado with him and dupe her into confessing her crimes. Diana, told that all she has to do is clear Sandy’s name, reluctantly agrees, but the 1500-mile ride proves less than smooth — pursuing the pair is a psychopathic bounty hunter and a couple of hired guns, whose presence is pointless and needlessly convolutes the plot.

It is on this ride that “Identity Thief” slavishly ticks every box in the Road Movie handbook — here we have a mismatched pairing, motel shenanigans, run-ins with the law, broken-down vehicles, a woodland attack by a wild animal and of course that old classic: a character obnoxiously singing along to the radio. The only thing that’s missing is the laughter as the plot plods along with depressing predictability, leaving one to yearn for the knee-slapping brilliance of superior road comedies “Midnight Run” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” or hell, even “Dumb and Dumber.”

McCarthy and Bateman do share a certain odd-couple chemistry as they bicker and bond on the open road, and they are admirably committed to their roles, even when the film misguidedly wallows in unearned, teary-eyed sentimentality — movie, you’ve yet to make me laugh; don’t turn around and try to make me cry. But the film struggles to wring so much as a titter out of their frequent interplay, often leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere and having to survive solely on their comic dynamic — for 110 minutes, that’s not enough to keep our attention. I think I might have half-smiled once, 30 minutes in, when Bateman bashes McCarthy in the face with an acoustic guitar. That’s about as inspired as the gags get, and it’s a gag that is of course given away in the trailer. McCarthy will next be seen in Paul Feig’s buddy cop comedy “The Heat” alongside Sandra Bullock. Let’s hope that does her more justice than this joyless dreck.

3/10