Director: David Palmer and Dax Shepard
Starring: Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold
Review by Stephanie Wong
[Rating: 3/5]
Dax Shepard has come a long way from his first Hollywood role as “vomitor at the party”. In his new film he plays triple threat as writer, co-director and lead actor in the romantic action comedy “Hit and Run” that he stars alongside real-life fiancée Kristen Bell.
Hit and Run models itself as a typical, somewhat entertaining date movie with enough action through fast car heist scenes and a sufficient amount of charming banter between the two lead characters to satisfy both parties. The story revolves around small town couple Charlie Bronson (Shepard) and Annie Bean (Bell) who get a dose of excitement in their quiet but comfortable life in suburbia when Annie seizes an opportunity of landing her dream job in Los Angeles. However, being in love, she is unwilling to leave behind her boyfriend who is in the witness protection program. Charlie, of course, refuses to let her turn down such a prospect and determinedly shows up at her office with all her bags, promising to risk all to drive her to LA himself.
Just when you lose hope and start thinking the movie will just coast through without any decent thrills, chaos ensues. Enter a crazy obsessive ex-boyfriend, a clumsy accident prone US marshal, a cop more in tune with his iPhone app than his surroundings plus a bank robber with a 4-year vendetta, and you’ve got yourself an amusing mix of hooligans sure to create some laughs.
The movie pulls through thanks to Tom Arnold’s bumbling performance as Randy, the US marshal hired to look after Charlie and the sociopathic humor displayed by Bradley Cooper’s character Alex Schmidt, the bank robber/ex-friend Charlie betrayed. These two roles were the only ones that weren’t heavily reliant on the overuse of racist or homosexual wisecracks to sustain the comedic value of the movie. Cooper surprises you as the dreadlocked, yellow sunglasses donned ex-con that evolves from appearing as a seemingly wimpy dog advocate to a pistol-whipping relentless crook. Whereas Arnold’s character’s countless mishaps will keep you chuckling at the poor fellow’s misguided luck.
All in all, Hit and Run is a bit more of a hit and miss. However, if you’re looking for a no-brainer plotline, more than enough car action, and a bit of cutesy romanticism, there’s no need to chase any further than Shepard’s new directorial debut.
