My Review: Hit and Run (7/10)

¨Whatever happens today is exactly what´s supposed to happen. And if you want, I´ll spend every moment with you for the rest of your life.¨

Hit and Run was exactly the kind of film I was hoping Seven Psychopaths would be like. There is nothing groundbreaking about it, but it is just pure fun and excitement with some strange and unpredictable situations going on. I had a great time with this film and hadn’t laughed so hard in the last month like I did with this movie. This might be a hit and miss for some people, but I had an enjoyable time with this entertaining story. There might not be anything memorable about this, but I still enjoyed the jokes and performances here (especially from Tom Arnold who was really funny). This was a very personal project for actor/director Dax Shepard who showcased some of his vehicles from his personal collection, did his own stunts, and starred alongside his real life girlfriend Kristen Bell. This is only his second film as a director, and once again he co-directed the film with his friend David Palmer, with whom they had previously worked in Brothers Justice, a comedic parody also staring Shepard. Here we get to see a lot of action with cool car chases, some romantic moments, and a lot of comedic and unpredictable situations. The chemistry between Shepard and Bell was perfect, the dialogues they had were hilarious and kind of served as a critique of contemporary society which spends so much time worrying about what may be politically incorrect or not (the scene where Bell discusses how awful it sounded for Shepard to say that a certain vehicle is for ¨fags¨). I honestly have to say that I laughed throughout this romantic action comedy, and would recommend it because it´s the best comedy I´ve seen in a while.

The story centers on a young couple, Annie (Kristen Bell) and Charles (Dax Shepard), who have to make an important decision if they want to continue in their relationship. Annie, who is the only person who has a major in nonviolent conflict resolution, has been offered an important job in a college in Los Angeles teaching. The only problem is that Charles can´t leave the small town they are living in because he is in the witness protection program. Knowing how important this job offer is for Annie, Charles decides to risk it all and goes on a road trip with her. Randy Anderson (Tom Arnold) is the marshal in charge of protecting Charles and decides to follow him because he hasn’t filled all the paperwork it takes to abandon the program. Meanwhile, Annie´s former boyfriend, Gil (Michael Rosenbaum) discovers something about Charles´s past and decides to inform his former gang about his whereabouts. Charles used to be a getaway driver for some bank robbers and has testified against them in court, therefore once these men are informed about his whereabouts they go off chasing him. The members of the gang are Alex (Bradley Cooper), who had to spend some time in jail because of Charlie´s testimony, Allen (Ryan Hansen), and his former fiancée, Neve (Joy Bryant). Thus the chase begins as some funny and unpredictable twists begin to take place during the road trip.

Dax Shepard may not be as cool a getaway driver as Ryan Gosling was in Drive, but this film was still entertaining and funny. He got to show off his cars and skills behind the wheels in order to save expenses in this independent and personal project. As I mentioned before, Tom Arnold had some very funny scenes as the accident prone federal marshal, but we also got to see a different side of Bradley Cooper playing this dog loving bank robber. Kristen Bell is as sweet and loveable as ever and has some great chemistry with Dax. The story was unpredictable as I didn’t know where it was heading at times, but a lot of fun. I thought the cast was pretty interesting and overall there were some good performance although none really memorable. This won´t win any awards, but it still is a lot of fun and felt fresh. This is a small film that many people probably haven’t heard of, but I think is worth checking out despite not receiving much love from critics. Like I said it´s either hit or miss, but I had a great time.  

  

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