Dax Shepard is hardly a household name, but the actor has
made a career out of supporting roles in comedies like Baby Mama, Idiocracy, and
When in Rome. He was also the lead in
Jon Favreau's underrated Zathura, a
sort-of sequel to Jumanji. Shepard
has recently made the jump to a multi-hyphenate as the star, producer, writer,
and co-director with David Palmer of his own movies. His first picture was a
mockumentary entitled Brother's Justice,
which followed Shepard's attempts at transforming himself into a bona fide
action star. His second feature is Hit
& Run, an action-comedy shot on the low-budget of $2 million.
Shepard plays Yul Perrkins, a former getaway driver who is
now living in Witness Protection under the alias of Charlie Bronson. He got the
name from the infamous British convict (featured in Nichols Winding Refn's film
Bronson) who in turn got his name
from the famed actor. Charlie's sweet-natured girlfriend, Annie (Kristen Bell),
has a Master's degree in Non-Violent Conflict Resolution, a major she created
for herself. She gets the opportunity to head up her own department at UCLA,
but almost doesn't take it since Charlie cannot leave skip town due to the
terms of his relocation. But, Charlie doesn't care and busts out his old '67
Lincoln Continental for a cross-country road trip.
Too bad Charlie's placement in WITSEC is one of the worst
kept secrets ever. Annie's jealous ex-boyfriend, Gil (Michael Rosenbaum), runs
a background check on Charlie and discovers his secret identity. While chasing
off after them, Gil contacts Charlie's former partner, Alex Dimitri (a
dreadlocked Bradley Cooper), who went to prison because of Charlie's testimony.
Also hot on their trail are Randy Anderson (Tom Arnold), the bumbling U.S.
Marshal assigned to protect Charlie, and Gil's brother Terry (Jess Rowland), a
sheriff's deputy.
With Hit & Run,
Shepard aspired to make a throwback to classic car chase pictures like Smokey and the Bandit. The DIY nature of
the production is reminiscent of a less ambitious version of Gone in 60 Seconds. The cast consists of
Shepard's friends in the acting community and his real-life fiancée Kristen
Bell. Shepard also performed his own stunt driving. Charlie's Continental along
with a dune buggy were taken from Shepard's own car collection. Despite best intentions,
Hit & Run never leaps off the
screen.
The car chases aren't at all exciting. The only moment that
exudes any visual inventiveness is a slow motion tire burn out set to a cover
version of "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The comedy is thoroughly strained
with one of the film's central jokes being the ethnicity of the convict who
raped Dimitri in prison. The rest of the puerile humor revolves around a room
full of naked old people and a Grindr-esque iPhone app for homosexual
rendezvous.
Hit and Run is a
listless comedy stuck in neutral while desperately wishing it was doing a
hundred down the interstate.
Rating: * (*****)
