A chase-oriented B movie that borrows from True Romance for both good and ill, Dax Shepard and David Palmer's Hit and Run benefits from a surprisingly sweet vibe and easygoing chemistry between Shepard and costar Kristen Bell, both in fine form. Its high-octane but low-stakes action may be just the thing for moviegoers weary of summer's operatic superheroes.
Shepard plays Charlie Bronson, an LA bank robber who, after his partners killed a security guard, testified against them and was hidden in tiny Milton, California. Bronson's a sensitive stoolie, though, and showers new girlfriend Annie (Bell) with daily affirmations and selfless love. Still, he hasn't told her how he came to be in the witness-protection program, letting her believe he's always been the benevolent charmer he is today.
VIDEO: Dax Shepard and a Dreadlocked Bradley Cooper Square Off in 'Hit and Run' Trailer
When Annie gets a job offer she can't refuse in LA, Charlie decides to risk going home -- breaking out the muscle car he drove in his bad-boy days to take her downstate. Unfortunately the vintage Continental (with suicide doors, natch) not only brings out traces of Charlie's old self -- cue an amusing debate over acceptable usage of the word "fag" -- but is a clue allowing Annie's old boyfriend Gil (Michael Rosenbaum) to suss out Charlie's identity and, in an effort to split them up, to contact his old, revenge-minded gang.
What follows is an old-fashioned cross-country pursuit in which the aforementioned parties are joined by the marshal responsible for Charlie's welfare (Tom Arnold) and a pair of highway patrol officers. It's an enjoyable ride, though the filmmakers push some gags close to the breaking point. Arnold's accident-prone cop, who can barely touch his gun without shooting innocent bystanders, is too clumsy by half (not to mention loud). And Bradley Cooper, as the ringleader of Charlie's old gang, seems inexplicably to be offering a variation on the ineffably strange pimp Gary Oldman played in True Romance: Dreadlocked and wearing yellow-tinted shades, he's a white boy affecting ghetto attitude and afflicted by an in-and-out Southern drawl. The performance is the most distracting, but certainly not the only, reminder of Tony Scott's 1993 chase-romance; even the soundtrack, with its echoes of Hans Zimmer's marimba, doffs its hat.
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In the most important respects, though, Hit and Run makes its lovers-on-the-lam premise its own. Shepard is as likeable as ever, believably pairing gentleness with outlaw savvy; Bell doesn't take Annie's indignation at Charlie's past so far that we hold it against her. Beau Bridges (as Charlie's estranged dad) is a standout in the supporting cast, requiring just a few minutes of screen time to lend some emotional depth to the hero's backstory.
Production Companies: Primate Pictures, Kim and Jim Productions, Panay Films
Cast: Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold, Kristin Chenoweth, Beau Bridges, David Koechner, Joy Bryant, Ryan Hansen, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Michael Rosenbaum
Directors: Dax Shepard, David Palmer
Screenwriter: Dax Shepard
Producers: Andrew Panay, Nate Tuck, Kim Waltrip, Jim Casey
Executive producer: Erica Murray
Director of photography: Bradley Stonesifer
Production designer: Emily Bloom
Music: Robert Mervak, Julian Wass
Costume designer: Brooke Dulien
Editor: Keith Croket
R, 96 minutes.
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