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Actor Dax
Shepard
plays a former bank robber in a witness protection program living under
the
alias “Charlie Bronson”. Bronson has resided for the past few years in the backwater town of Milton Valley, supervised
by an incompetent U.S
marshal, Randy (Tom Arnold). Charlie is in a relationship with Annie
(Kristen
Bell), a cute professor at the local college whose métier is conflict
dispute
resolution. One day, Annie’s pill-popping colleague,
Prof. Debbie Kreeger (Kristin
Chenoweth), gives her the opportunity to head her own department at
UCLA, situated
in Los Angeles, which complicates her relationship
with Charlie. Charlie initially persuades Annie to reject the offer,
however, he
ultimately chooses to jeopardise himself by joining her in relocating
there. After
learning of her abrupt departure, Annie’s droll ex-boyfriend Gil
(Michael
Rosenbaum), who still hasn’t gotten over their breakup, researches
Charlie’s
past. Through his homosexual cop brother, Terry (Jess Rowland), Gil
discovers
that Charlie’s real name is Yul Perkins, that Perkins was the witness
in a bank
robbery committed a few years prior and that his testimony sent one of
the
chief perpetrators, Alex Dimitri (Bradley Cooper), to prison
temporarily. Gil informs
Alex via Facebook direct message that he knows where Yul is heading
whilst
pursuing them in the hopes of rescuing the oblivious Annie from her
criminal fiancé. Alex immediately assembles his gang
and sets out to collect vengeance. The couple’s drive to Los Angeles
turns into
a vehicular cat-and-mouse game that sees its ridiculous participants
enter into an exhilarating series of riotous scenarios.
Hit and
Run is a
madcap road movie that should seduce
audiences with its irresistible arrangement of badass driving scenes,
delicious
dialogue and heartwarming romance comedy. The film’s star, Dax Shepard,
also wrote
the screenplay and co-directed the film.
In real-life, Kristen Bell is
Shepard’s fiancé and Kristin Chenoweth is Bell’s best friend. This
semi-autobiographical
context lends an intimacy to the story’s
comedy that is often evinced through the subtle slivers of
truth kneaded into Shepard’s wonderful screenplay.
Bradley
Stonesifer’s cinematography is beautiful to behold but what makes it
exemplary is
its felicity in portraying the story’s events. The film emanates
ultra-cool style
through its judicious choice of cars, its superior soundtrack, its
pregnant
imagery, its meticulous character profiles and even its credits’ retro
font. In
one immaculate shot, Annie, wearing her chic sunglasses, sits beside
Charlie,
wearing his Ray Ban 3362s, in his black 1967 Lincoln Continental.
Shepard’s semi-auteurist
control of the film really shows as Hit
and Run translates his winsome turn
of humour perfectly. Whether his jokes are outrageous, wry, visual,
dialogic or
topic-specific, Shepard’s breezy charm always permeates through each
concept. These
jokes often feel fresh as they come from unexpected places and
enhance the visceral glow that envelops the story.
This is what makes the film so special: its glow. In
other words, I perceived the film as more of a hilarious mood piece
than a
punchline-driven comedy. Alex
inadvertently sums up the film when he
says, “This feels right”, after Annie
is introduced to Yul’s father. I wholeheartedly
agree.
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