Review: Run, but not too far, from Dax Shepard's uneven Hit and Run

Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, and Shepard's serious face.

Grade: C-

Who tricks out a '67 Lincoln Continental?

Seriously, who drops 14 grand to put 700 horses under the hood of a car clearly built for luxury, not performance.

Dax Shepard does. Or, at least the former Punk'd and current Prenthood star wishes he could. He probably also sank a substantial investment into his vexing vanity project and second directorial effort, again with an assist from David Palmer, Hit & Run.

Hit & Run is a perplexing experiment. Shepard and Palmer invest a indie sensibility into this tale of a former wheelman, Charlie Bronson--seriously--(Shepard) who was forced into witness protection after dropping dime on his old bank robbing crew, including a dreadlocked Bradley Cooper, Ryan Hansen, and Joy Bryant as Charlie's ex-fiance and "mastermind" of the crew, and is trying to settle down with his college professor girlfriend, Annie (Shepard's real-life main squeeze, Kristen Bell). When Annie gets an opportunity for a great job, Charlie is goaded and guilted into driving her from their Northern California hideaway to LA.  Along the way, he must elude all manner of escalating danger, from Annie's ex (Michael Rosenbaum) to his bumbling handler (Tom Arnold) to his old crew. Hilarity and a handful of adequately staged car chases ensue.

That indie sensibility I mentioned earlier occasionally elevates Hit & Run above its middling trappings, but generally Shepard's is an uneven effort. The tone is locked somewhere between sharp-tongued, foul-mouthed comedy; cheeky 70s-style on-the-road actioner; and earnest romance. The pacing is painfully slow yet it allows time for the characters to develop, and even if the audience doesn't really like the characters, they will have some solid investment in the players.  As would be expected of the type of project where the director is also the writer and the star--who also managed to a cast of his girlfriend, friends, and co-stars in lead and supporting roles--Hit and Run gives Shepard's Charlie ample opportunity to be the ultimate Marty Stu: he's talented, earnest, funny, tough, and completely devoid of flaws (same almost goes for his slightly neurotic but sharp-tongued girlfriend). Every ounce of the flick smacks of potential but each of the element of the film that may have realized that potential is squandered by Shepard's narcissism and inexperience. If only he had some one to reign him in and remind him that its not all about him, even if his name is on the director and the lead actor's chairs.

For all that doesn't work, Hit & Run is peppered by moments of moderate intelligence, wit, and thrill. The dialogue is fairly sharp and quips fly at full speed but are often so sly that they either fly over the audience's head or fall flat thanks to Shepard and Palmer's kitchen sink approach. The flick occasionally boasts some thrills with a handful of car chases that seem more like Shepard and friends were enjoying a fun day at driving school rather than crafting a taut, purposeful chase sequence, yet there is a fraction of dynamism and an obvious love for cars that makes those scenes slightly more bearable if still ineffective. The performances, unfortunately, do not carry much weight with most of the cast alternating between un-ironic earnestness (Shepard mostly) and winking detachment (Cooper, Arnold, Rosenbaum, and Bell). Again, there are moments within the performances, particularly the opening scene, which treads the line between acting and reality with Shepard and Bell's cutesy, gag-inducing gushing. It's a scene that does wonders for building Shepard and Bell's characters while peppering in some Nolan-esque foreshadowing, but it drags on to a point that is so off-putting and squirm-worthy that you be hard-pressed to keep their eyes from rolling into the back of your head. It is this inconsistency that plagues Hit & Run and places it in an odd space where it is hard to recommend on anything other than unfulfilled potential.

With Hit & Run, the parts have occasion to be greater than the sum, and if movies were moments, Hit & Run might be something special. As it is, Hit & Run is--pardon the pun--a little too hit and miss to be a bonafide hit.

In-Between the Scenes Observations:

• Seriously, as boss as it is, a 67' Lincoln Continental is not a car that needs to be tricked out.
• Advances in communication and surveillance technology may have made it harder to get away with crimes, but in some cases they have made it spectacularly easy, especially if one were inclined to boost an car with keyless entry.
• Bradley Cooper is basically playing Phil from the Hangover with a blondie dread wig; aside from the wig, this seems to be Cooper's default, which should ensure a lengthy career for the young thespian.
• Remember how good Kristen Bell was in Veronica Mars...yeah...it's almost a shame the geek community elevated her so quickly.