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"Directors: David Palmer, Dax Shepard; Screenwriter: Dax Shepard; Starring: Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold, Michael Rosenbaum; Running time: 100 mins; Certificate: 15  To give Parenthood star Dax Shepard his credit, it&amp;#039;s a daunting task to write and star in your own directorial debut, and caper comedy Hit and Run does at least employ enough off-the-wall humour to avoid feeling generic. Shepard plays ex-getaway driver Charlie Bronson (a self-chosen fake name), whose devoted girlfriend Annie (Kristen Bell) has no idea about his shady past.  When she gets a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity in LA, he jeopardises his witness protection identity in order to drive her to the interview. If you can believe it, things don&amp;#039;t go to plan and the pair are pursued by a merry band of nutters including a hapless US marshal, a creepy ex-boyfriend and Charlie&amp;#039;s shady former crew led by a dreadlocked Bradley Cooper.  Real-life couple Bell and Shepard strike up an endearingly natural chemistry on-screen, but once the caper gets going Bell&amp;#039;s relegated to a passive and largely humourless role. She&amp;#039;s by far the most likeable performer in the bunch, witty, warm and spontaneous, but she spends most of the road trip portion being dragged around like a rag doll while the male characters face off.   Shepard doesn&amp;#039;t have the same natural charisma, and as Charlie starts to slip back into his old self en route to LA - making a range of off-colour comments that range from homophobic to racist to rapey - it becomes harder and harder to enjoy spending time with him.Having Bell&amp;#039;s character indignantly point out his dull-witted stereotyping doesn&amp;#039;t make it any less irritating, especially since we&amp;#039;re meant to root for her to end up with the moron.  In fact, Hit and Run&amp;#039;s main problem is that it partakes enthusiastically in all the things it&amp;#039;s theoretically mocking. We&amp;#039;re meant to roll our eyes indulgently at Charlie&amp;#039;s ignorance, but still see him as the lovable, roguish hero who deserves to get the girl. Similarly the male characters&amp;#039; fetishistic love for their cars gets a ribbing, but then the film indulges in a series of loud, lengthy freeway chase sequences which serve no purpose whatsoever besides indulging that very macho obsession.  The film&amp;#039;s not without genuine laughs, but it&amp;#039;s so meandering and haphazard that they never quite land with the impact they should. With the exception of Cooper (who lands a decent one-liner or two) and Kristen Chenoweth in a brief role (ditto), the supporting characters fall flat. Tom Arnold&amp;#039;s loud, dumb marshal provides below-average slapstick, while a subplot involving a cop obsessed with an app called &amp;#039;Pouncer&amp;#039; (get it?) seems to stretch out endlessly without really going anywhere.  Not unlike Shepard&amp;#039;s Charlie, Hit and Run initially offers some offbeat charm, but reveals itself as a smug, aimless mess once it gets out on the open road.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/review/a429738/hit-and-run-review/>