Movie Review: Hit And Run
I remembered seeing a preview for Hit and Run last summer but heard very little about it. It wasn’t until I stumbled across it on Netflix that I had a renewed interest in giving it a view.
I think most of my apprehensiveness about the film came from the direct to video style title. It turns out that it wasn’t all that bad! It has quite a few familiar faces that I found out pretty much donated their acting abilities as it only had a $2 million budget. Pretty low funding for any movie trying to stay afloat in today’s massive movie market.
I read that Dax Shepard not only starred but also wrote, co-directed, edited and even did his own stunt driving with his own cars no less! Pretty bold and artistic move from my standpoint!
The film starts off with a pillow talk scene between the two main characters Charlie and Annie played by Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell (who are also in a real life relationship). I enjoyed this scene as it seems to portray genuine care between the two. Which is subsequently the calm before the storm that is about to chase the both of them.
As Annie is at work for a local community college she is pulled into her boss’ office, played by Kristen Chenoweth. She proceeds to tell Annie that she is in the wrong job and tells her that she has an interview in L.A. for a better suited role, as the first ever department head for her non-violent crisis resolution doctorate.
This sets the stage of events for a raging road trip as Charlie has been in witness protection for the past for years and, as it turns out, L.A. is the place he has been avoiding. After some thought and consideration Charlie agrees to take her to her interview forcing his love to overcome his fears.
This enters in the first of Dax Shepards vehicles, a 1967 Lincoln Continental with a 700 HP engine. As they are about to embark on their road trip Charlie gets a call from his witness protection agent, Randy, played by Tom Arnold. Arnold was awesome as Randy! He was a clumsy idiot of a character that was really a boost of comedic relief for the duration of the film. Randy tries to get Charlie to not go but as Charlie refuses and proceeds to L.A., Randy follows behind leaving his trail of destruction shortly behind them.
The film gets a turbo charge in storyline when Annie’s obsessive ex-boyfriend, Gil (Michael Rosenbaum), finds out about Charlie’s shady past. He alerts the person responsible for Charlie’s witness protection, Alex (Bradley Cooper) via Facebook as to his findings and Charlie’s cover is soon blown and chaos ensues.
Overall thoughts:
Hit and Run was a solid, fun action comedy! Dax Shepard earns kudos for his over achieving credits to much of the creative force of the film.
The story could have been a little better, but the characters and the dialogue more than compensate for the lack of storytelling. The chemistry from both Shepard and Bell was pleasing to watch as well. It wasn’t forced; it was very natural, assumingly, due to their real life relationship.
Hit and Run is now on Netflix, which is where I checked it out, but is also at your local Redbox. I recommend it, due to its overall fun nature! Check it out!
I give it 7 out of 10