Big Picture Big Sound

Crash and Burn

Dax Shepard is the man in charge of "Hit & Run", with the assistance of David Palmer. It is hard to discern what their goal was because they inject pieces of multiple genres, and they never settle on their favorite one. The result is a bewildering ride that encompasses action-packed car chases, comedy, dangerous situations involving serious criminals, and romance, or at least a bizarre attempt at romance. There is no heat between the two leads and it is a mystery why she would be with him after fifteen minutes of watching them together.

Examining it, I can't help but analyze it by its parts, rather than as a whole. That is because there is no whole. It's a series of disconnected skits, some of which were obviously designed to make me laugh. I think I chuckled three or four times. The car chases made me long for great car chases. Like in "The French Connection" or "Bullitt". The speeding cars here reminded me more of the "Smokey and the Bandit" franchise, minus the excitement and stupid, funny moments.

At its outset, we meet Charlie Bronson (Dax Shepard) and his girlfriend, Annie (Kristen Bell). They are in bed, pledging their lives to each other. The dialog in this section is embarrassingly poor and it does not elevate a great deal from that point forward. Turns out that Charlie is in witness protection and Annie is unaware of everything from his past, something that I found a little bit too farfetched, but I could live with that if, as the truth becomes revealed, Annie were to react like a normal human being. We are told she is exceptionally bright, but her actions are those of a dullard.

Because of Annie's ex-boyfriend, the guys that Charlie is hiding from find out his whereabouts. This sets off the plot, and the rest of "Hit & Run" features the attempts of the bad guys to nail Charlie. These sections are supposed to scare us, I think. I know they are not funny, so that is my best guess.

The only potential saving grace could have been the bumbling lawman, portrayed by Tom Arnold. He provides the only laughs but his success rate at amusing still runs at about a one in ten rate.

In reality a hit and run is a serious crime. In that way, this "Hit & Run" is dead on. I am not sure if I would call the film a misdemeanor or a felony, but it did make me feel like a victim.