As folks will soon see during the end credits of "This Is 40," Melissa McCarthy is an improv machine. “I've seen people in tears before, but that was something otherworldly. People were leaving the room — crew had to leave. It was impossible, and she just kept her composure through all of it,” Paul Rudd said about working with her on Judd Apatow's film, with the director adding, quite simply: "…Melissa is one of the best improvisers there is." And hopefully Seth Gordon knew enough to let her go off script, but even if not, the new trailer for "Identity Thief" does have some promise.
Co-starring McCarthy and Jason Bateman, the story follows a regular guy who has his identity stolen, and must track down the culprit, bring her back to his own state in order to clear his name and restore his financial standing. Dubious setup aside, it's really a road picture/chase movie that seems to be serving up equal parts one liners and big setpieces. And whether they were on the page or not, McCarthy lets fly a number of choice pieces of dialogue which certainly had us chuckling, while even the usually restrained Bateman gets his own zingers. But can we stop with the listening-to-music-in-a-car gags? That's pretty played out by now.
"Identity Thief" grabs your wallet on February 8, 2013.
