SYNOPSIS: From the producer of Wedding Crashers – written and directed by and starring comic talent Dax Shepard (NBC’s “Parenthood”), HIT AND RUN is the story of Charlie Bronson (Shepard), a nice guy with a questionable past who busts out of the witness protection program to drive his fiancé (Kristen Bell) from their small home town to Los Angeles so she can land the job of a lifetime. Their road trip grows awkwardly complicated when they are chased by the feds (led by Tom Arnold)… and increasingly dangerous, when Charlie’s former pals, a band of gangsters (led by Bradley Cooper) enter the fray.

REVIEW: No, no, no people, don’t be misled. This is an okay movie overall but it’s not a great comedy. There really is not a whole lot to brag about in regards to this film. I really wanted to like it. I was looking forward to a solid and almost constant laugh of a movie, but this one wasn’t it. I mean sure, there are some funny moments and you will laugh a bit but it’s not as good as it may seem. People that know me know that I have a very open and wide sense of humor. Almost anything can make me laugh, so for me to say that this is not a great comedy is saying a lot. The movie is slow (except for the car chases), cliché, and superficial with a not so fascinating storyline. The story concept is good, but the presentation of said concept is not that great. And speaking of car chases, at least the movie makers chose some nice looking vehicles to help present this story. It’s never a bad idea to use a Chevy Corvette in a movie. They also added one of those modern station wagon style Cadillacs with the enhanced engine that can go pretty fast, and a really nice, horse-packed classic Lincoln. Seeing that Lincoln was one of the main highlights of the film (and yeah, okay, so was seeing Kristen Bell). Along with appropriate automobile choices, the music playlist was also entertaining and well selected. So there are some good points but the movie just didn’t have enough substance.

The cast was not too shabby which added to my surprise on how weak this picture is. Starting with the co-director and star of the show, Dax Shepard, he needed to direct himself to give a little more spunk to his character especially being the primary one. He seemed nonchalant about the whole thing and almost as if he was giving a supporting role performance. I still say his best performance that I’ve seen is in Employee of the Month. Kristen looked real good and her performance was acceptable but she just wasn’t given a whole lot to work with. The two strangest roles were done by Tom Arnold and Bradley Cooper. You can tell that Tom tried real hard to make it work but he just looked uncomfortable. Or maybe his neurotic character made me uncomfortable. In either case, it was strange. The strangest character award goes to Bradley. Actually I’ll admit it’s more so for his appearance. I mean, really, Bradley in dreadlocks? Then again, his performance is also a big “?”. As far as the characters they all play, well they’re about as shallow as the movie itself. Another one of the better features of the film is the array of interesting cameo appearances. No, I’m not going to tell you who they are (even though you can probably look them up anyway, but you’re not going to get them from me). There is not a whole lot to give away that would require a spoiler alert, so I’ll keep those cameo names to myself thank you. But seriously, you might be better off putting this one somewhere in the middle of the movies to rent list. 

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