Kurt Loder Reviews Side Effects and Identity Thief
Credit: Open Road FilmsSteven Soderbergh’s Side Effects is a
grippingly “Hitchcockian” movie, writes Kurt Loder, a lurid tale of
a man trapped in a thickening web of circumstance—the sort of story
that Hitchcock might well have wanted to tell himself. In the late
director’s absence, Soderbergh, who over the course of 24 years has
demonstrated a rare facility in a wide array of genres, proves to
be just the man for the job.
In Identify Thief, meanwhile, the wonderful comedic actress Melissa McCarthy is basically used as a walking fat joke, a pathetic loser with no hope of ever surmounting her size. She’s the butt of endless unpleasant gibes, and the movie’s stretch for happy-happy at the end can’t wash away the sour taste of all that’s come before.
