Kernel Rating (out of 5): 
MPAA Rating: R Length: 112 minutes
Age Appropriate for: 15+. It’s rated R mainly for cursing, which is pretty pervasive, as well as sexual content, which includes implied sex scenes (no nudity), description of sexual acts, and a man’s butt. There’s also some gross-out humor, green vomit, and some non-graphic violence, like punching, gunshots, and car chases.
‘Identity Thief,’ for pairing well-liked comedians Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, is weirdly mean-spirited, sending bizarrely mixed messages about how society should treat foster children, criminals, the overweight, and immigrants, among others. And no, not any of those messages happen to be funny.
By Roxana Hadadi
With 2011’s “Horrible Bosses,” viewers got the impression that director Seth Gordon has an understanding of the manic, of the weird relationships that can develop between coworkers and how far friends may be willing to go to help each other out. In that movie, a trio of male friends fought back against sexual harassment, ineffective management, and cruel manipulators to earn a win for the little guy; the film was crude and rude, but its message was a well-meaning one. But Gordon squanders all that good will with “Identity Thief,” a disturbingly mean-spirited take on the road trip trope that will end up polarizing audiences in its shoddy attempt to bring its main characters together.
