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Identity Thief

2013 film by Seth Gordon

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ3801252 ↗
Source-derived summary

Identity Thief is a 2013 American road comedy film directed by Seth Gordon, written by Craig Mazin from a story by Mazin and Jerry Eeten. It stars Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, Genesis Rodriguez, Morris Chestnut, John Cho, Robert Patrick, and Eric Stonestreet.

The film tells the fictional story of Sandy Patterson, a man whose identity is stolen by a female con artist. After the police tell him that it will take up to a year to solve the case, Sandy embarks on a cross-country road trip to find her and clear his name.

Identity Thief was released by Universal Pictures on February 8, 2013. The film received negative reception from critics, but grossed $175.4 million worldwide against a $35 million budget.

Plot

In Denver, a man named Sandy Patterson is tricked into buying phony identity theft protection from con artist Diana over the phone and he reveals all of his personal information. At work, after clashing with his boss Harold Cornish, Sandy receives a call mentioning that he has an appointment at a salon in Florida. Confused, he ignores it when co-worker Daniel Casey suggests that they and others quit and start their own firm. Sandy agrees to join them.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Identity Thief” as 2013 film by Seth Gordon. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Identity, Thief and film.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2013—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—2013-01-01, 2013-03-28, 2013-02-21—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Identity, Thief and film providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Identity Thief”, the useful work is to connect “2013 film by Seth Gordon” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3801252. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Identity Thief”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Identity Thief primary sources, Identity Thief archive and Identity research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Identity Thief”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Identity Thief” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.