Melissa McCarthy is riveting in simply-penned moments of remorse and confession, adding tearful depth to her ace timing and formidable physical comedy.

The fault, I think, isn't in our stars but in the script, running up a huge comedy tab the likable players can't pay off.

Identity Thief establishes its priorities: Expansive character business is front and center; actual character-building is in the margins, almost off the map.

With Melissa McCarthy playing a one-woman demolition team who, for 95 percent of the running time, is a genuine affront to nature, there are unavoidably some laughs here, although the gifted comic actor got more of them in less screen time in her previous films than she does in this starring role.

With Identity Thief, Melissa McCarthy proves she's got what it takes to carry a feature, however meager the underlying material.