Review of Hit & Run (2012) by Thomas W — 27 Feb 2013

Even though I ended up chuckling a bit more at the (corrected) jokes than I cringed, Hit & Run is a mess of a film about a couple roadtripping to Los Angeles for her job interview. He (Dax Shepard) is in witness protection because he snitched on some former acquaintances in (where else?) LA and she (the like-able Kristen Bell) is seeking a promotion at a larger college as she is too over-qualified to remain at the po-dunk community college she's been teaching at for years.

On their tail(s) are his marshall watching over him, her ex, some bungling cops and his former associates (including a dreadlock'd Bradley Cooper). Oh how it isn't hilarious. He is unpolished and unsophisticated; but her PC-mannerisms try to set him right .

.. all while trying to safely make it to LA. If one takes any time to think about what he/she is watching, they'd quickly realize the film makes no sense ... as roads, maps and geography aren't ever really taken into consideration as characters appear ahead of or behind others throughout the entire film.

This is all done to make particular scenes more funny or more tense but it also makes it all entirely implausible and set-up. It is a comedy and so perhaps I thought too much ... but with the social commentary and insertions of Bell's joke-corrections peppered throughout the film one can tell the film tries to be somewhat intelligent (Cooper also offers up some sound advice for pet owners).

Without Bell or Cooper, this would be a total failure.