Review of Hit & Run (2012) by Philip P — 09 Jan 2013

I am likely in the minority on this one, and am now sad to see it didn't garner much recognition in its initial run, but ultimately happy I was able to see this film and truly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

It is one of those light, action adventure comedies you could truly slip in at any point in time and know it is going to satisfy whatever entertainment desire you have. It is the fun, goofy tale of Charlie (Dax Shepard who also wrote and co-directed the film) a guy in the witness protection program and his now lovely little life with Annie (Shepard's real-life girlfriend Kristen Bell) and his protection officer Randy (Tom Arnold).

It is when Annie gets the opportunity to teach at a university in LA that Charlie has to bite his lip and venture into a city that risks exposing himself to the people he testified against who are now free.

Obviously, hijinks are going to ensue once the couple hit the road and they do with a fair amount of hilarity and witty dialogue. Close friends of the writer/director such as Bradley Cooper, Kristin Chenoweth, and Beau Bridges show up throughout the film and provide some nice moments as does some of the stunt driving that clearly doesn't haven't the biggest to go on, but they make it work.

In many ways it is a throw back to those films of the 70's, those kind of exploitation films, this is very much in the same vein as that. We get a set of interesting characters and send them on a road trip that has plenty of ridiculous obstacles in the way of them getting from point A to point B.

You could easily call this pointless or unnecessary, but it is a fun bit of escapism that has action, souped-up cars, and nice patches of comedy. More than worth a rental, hit and run is not a hit and miss.