Hit and Run (2012)

Directors:

David Palmer
Dax Shepard

Writer (WGA):

Dax Shepard (written by)

Release Date:

22 August 2012 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A comedy that never takes its foot off the gas

Plot:

Former getaway driver Charlie Bronson jeopardizes his Witness Protection Plan identity in order to help his girlfriend get to Los Angeles. The feds and Charlie's former gang chase them on the road.

Plot Keywords:

Getaway Driver | Witness Protection | Gay Cop | Written And Directed By Cast Member | Bank Robber

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Kristen Bell	...	Annie Bean
Dax Shepard	...	Yul Perrkins a.k.a. Charles Bronson
Tom Arnold	...	Randy Anderson
Kristin Chenoweth	...	Debby Kreeger
Michael Rosenbaum	...	Gil Rathbinn
Jess Rowland	...	Terry Rathbinn
Carly Hatter	...	Angella Roth
Steve Agee	...	Dude #1
Bradley Cooper	...	Alex Dmitri
Joy Bryant	...	Neve
Kal Bennett	...	Cashier Mary Ann
John Duff	...	Body Builder Catalyst
David Koechner	...	Sanders
Ryan Hansen	...	Allen
Beau Bridges	...	Clint Perrkins
Jason Bateman	...	Keith Yert
Nate Tuck	...	Pat Rickman
Matt Mosher	...	Student #1
Sean Hayes	...	Sandy Osterman
Kyla Snodgrass	...	Kid in Yard #1
Shea Snodgrass	...	Kid in Yard #2
Jamie Snodgrass	...	Mother in Yard
Laura Labo	...	Farmhouse Woman
Graham Mackie	...	Naked Motel Guest
Todd Conant	...	Naked Motel Guest
Valentina Arizo	...	Naked Motel Guest
Virginia Briscoe	...	Naked Motel Guest
Gloria Sue Holmes	...	Naked Motel Guest
Bob Noss	...	Naked Motel Guest
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cameron Cruz	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Shannon Joy Rodgers	...	Student (uncredited)

Directed by
David Palmer
Dax Shepard

Writing credits (WGA)
Dax Shepard		(written by)

Produced by
Tobin Armbrust	....	executive producer
Kristen Bell	....	co-producer
Adam Blum	....	associate producer
Paul Bojic	....	co-executive producer
Paul Bunch	....	co-executive producer
Jim Casey	....	executive producer
Audrey Loggia	....	co-producer
Tony Loguzzo	....	associate producer
Erica Murray	....	executive producer
Andrew Panay	....	producer
Nate Tuck	....	producer
Kim Waltrip	....	producer
Howard Young	....	line producer

Original Music by
Robert Mervak
Julian Wass

Cinematography by
Bradley Stonesifer

Film Editing by
Keith Croket
Dax Shepard

Production Design by
Emily Bloom

Art Direction by
Mariano Rueda

Set Decoration by
Elizabeth Callens

Costume Design by
Brooke Dulien

Makeup Department
Tanya Cookingham	....	makeup artist
Ange Grmolyes	....	hair department head
Ayat Malek Kiankhooy	....	makeup artist (as Ayat Malek)
Kelley Mitchell	....	makeup department head

Production Management
Howard Young	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Breines	....	first assistant director
Joe Moore	....	second assistant director
Bryan Snodgrass	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Annie Brandt	....	property master
A.J. Callens	....	art swing
Caryl Eagle	....	art swing
Michael Eagle-Hall	....	props
Mariano Rueda	....	set dresser
Albert Valdez	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Cary Clark	....	sound technician
Gary Coppola	....	supervising re-recording mixer
Shaun Cunningham	....	foley mixer
Jeremy B. Davis	....	sound effects editor
Randall Good	....	boom operator
Andy Hay	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jeff Hubbard	....	sound effects editor
Jeffrey Hubbard	....	sound effects editor
Dan Kremer	....	foley editor
Eric Maldin	....	adr mixer
Sean O'Malley	....	sound mixer
Michael Perricone	....	sound re-recording mixer
Michael Perricone	....	supervising sound editor
Jeffrey A. Pitts	....	sound designer
Jeffrey A. Pitts	....	supervising sound effects editor
G.W. Pope III	....	foley cueing
G.W. Pope III	....	foley editor
Benjamin Rauscher	....	dialogue editor
Nick Rumancik	....	boom operator
Will Schultz	....	boom operator
Geordy Sincavage	....	foley editor
Geordy Sincavage	....	foley mixer
Alex Ullrich	....	foley artist
Tara Blume	....	foley artist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Ryan Compton	....	special effects foreman
Dennis Dion	....	special effects coordinator

Visual Effects by
Zach Brinkerhoff	....	visual effects artist: Justice FX
Keith Croket	....	visual effects editor
Mike Dillinger	....	visual effects artist
Justin Russell	....	visual effects artist: Justice FX

Stunts
Arin Babaian	....	stunt driver
Brycen Counts	....	stunt driver
Steve DeCastro	....	stunt coordinator
Wade Eastwood	....	stunt driver
Jeremy Fry	....	stunt double: Bradley Cooper
Terry Jackson	....	stunt driver
Bethany Levy	....	stunt double: Joy Bryant
Rob Mars	....	stunt double: Tom Arnold
Casey O'Malley	....	stunt driver
Chris Palermo	....	stunt driver
Norb Phillips	....	stunt driver
Rex Reddick	....	stunt driver
Harry Wowchuk	....	stunt driver
Marcus Young	....	stunt driver

Camera and Electrical Department
Brant Beland	....	gaffer
Richard Card	....	additional camera
Christopher Robin Faulkner	....	second assistant camera
Ryan Girkins	....	grip
Julien Janigo	....	best boy grip
Kim Lapplander	....	second assistant camera
Nicholas H. Martin	....	additional second assistant camera
Nicholas H. Martin	....	digital loader
John Paul Meyer	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Natasha Narkiewicz	....	camera intern
Omar Pena	....	grip
John C. Reyes	....	first assistant camera
Hunter Sandison	....	first assistant camera
Torrey Schoerner	....	key grip
Elise Teller	....	camera swing
Jaxon Woods	....	first assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lizzie Dulien	....	assistant costume designer
Justin Rocherolla	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Angel Askins	....	digital intermediate producer
Paul Carlin	....	digital intermediate editor
Michael Landon	....	digital intermediate editor
Dan Ohara	....	additional editor
Fred Raskin	....	additional editor
Elliott Traeger	....	assistant editor
Gilbert Carreras	....	color timer (uncredited)

Music Department
Jason Altshuler	....	music editor
Jason Altshuler	....	music supervisor
Rian Borland	....	music clearance
Laurence Freedman	....	music supervisor
Brad Haehnel	....	scoring mixer
Nick Tipp	....	scoring engineer
Colton Weatherston Jr.	....	composer: additional music
Colton Weatherston Jr.	....	music department
Colton Weatherston Jr.	....	music producer

Transportation Department
Justin Caruso	....	picture car maintenance
Clint Coyle	....	driver
Ken Kennedy	....	picture car
Tyler Loguzzo	....	picture car coordinator

Other crew
Justin Begnaud	....	completion bond executive: Film Finances
Caleb Duffy	....	location manager
Frederick Gourgue	....	production intern
Chuck Hurley	....	post-production assistant accountant
Brandon Hwang	....	production intern
C.J. Izzo	....	epk/behind the scenes
Janel Kranking	....	basecamp production assistant
Kevin Manos	....	production coordinator
Steven Oliveri	....	key set production assistant
Craig Pratsch	....	production intern
Elizabeth E. Quinlan	....	production intern
Santos P. Rodriguez	....	chef
Wendy Rohland	....	production accountant
Mike Rutkowski	....	production assistant
Kiran Kaur Saini	....	script supervisor
Jaclyn Smith	....	production assistant
Justin Sostre	....	production intern
Bradley Scott Sullivan	....	behind-the-scenes producer
Mike Tristano	....	master armorer
Clay Van Sickle	....	key armorer
Griffin Wade	....	production assistant
ML Wills	....	office production assistant

Thanks
Xavier Collin	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Exclusive Media Group (as Exclusive Media) (presents)
• Panay Films
• Primate Pictures (as Primal)
• Kim and Jim Productions (in association with)

Distributors

• Alliance Films (2012) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Cathay-Keris Films (2012) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Earth Star Entertainment (2013) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Independent Films (2012) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Metropolitan Filmexport (2012) (France) (theatrical)
• Momentum Pictures (2012) (UK) (theatrical)
• Open Road Films (II) (2012) (USA) (theatrical)
• Pinnacle Films (2012) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2012) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• Future Film (2013) (Finland) (DVD)
• Golden Scene (2013) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Golden Scene (2013) (Hong Kong) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Bangladesh) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Bhutan) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (India) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Nepal) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Pakistan) (all media)
• Tanweer Films (2012) (Sri Lanka) (all media)
• Zon Audiovisuais (2012) (Portugal) (all media)

Special Effects

• Justice FX (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera dollies
• Company 3  digital intermediate
• Ericabo Productions  funding
• Lakeshore Records  soundtrack
• Lotus Post  ADR recording
• Lotus Post  sound post-production
• Lotus Post  sound re-recording

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references, graphic nudity, some violence and drug content

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #46102) | Australia:MA15+ (2012) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Ireland:15A | India:A | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 | Hong Kong:IIB

Company:

Exclusive Media Group

Trivia:

Because of the small budget, many of the cast members did their own stunt driving. Dax Shepard is known to be a car enthusiast.

Goofs:

Continuity: When is Charlie hit by the golf club he fell inside the door which was open in one shot but closed in the next.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Yul Perrkins a.k.a. Charles Bronson:You're not concentrating. I can tell. You're thinking about emails or text messages or handbags. Taylor Lautner.
Annie Bean:You don't know that. You don't know what I'm thinking about.
Yul Perrkins a.k.a. Charles Bronson:[in a whisper] Lautner.
Yul Perrkins a.k.a. Charles Bronson:Okay, I don't know the specifics, but I know it's some kind of useless racket that's keeping you from concentrating.
Annie Bean:You don't know squat. I could be thinking about the cure for cancer. In fact, I may have just cracked it, and now you're trying to get me to erase it from my hard drive.
Yul Perrkins a.k.a. Charles Bronson:You couldn't cure a UTI if you owned a cranberry farm.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Chelsea Lately: Episode #6.114" (2012)

Soundtrack:

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Slow out of the gate, but finds its groove as a comedy eventually

Fast cars and comedy have never really gone hand in hand. Movies such as the "Fast and Furious" franchise have always been about the cars, with the jokes mostly sticking to characters digging at each other and one-liners. "Hit and Run," on the other hand, is all about the humor — with a side of car porn.

"Hit and Run" serves predominantly as a showcase for the comedic style of its creator, actor Dax Shepard. Shepard's filmmaking debut, "Brother's Justice," which he also co-directed with partner David Palmer in 2010, went silently, but here he's convinced his fiancée, Kristen Bell, to co-star and snagged another A-lister in Bradley Cooper to elevate the film's profile.

The humor in "Hit and Run" can best be described as awkward. It's a lot like "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in the way it constantly steps back to let the characters verbally break down the event, action or tension that just happened or is happening on screen, only Shepard is less concerned with social taboos and all the characters of "Hit and Run" are a little mentally off in one way or another outside of the central couple.

Shepard plays Charlie Bronson, only that's not his real name. He lives somewhere in hard-to- find California because he's in Witness Protection after testifying against some bank robbers a few years back. Since then he's started a new life and a serious romance with Annie (Bell), who doesn't know much about his past. When Annie gets an incredible and nearly shoo-in dream job opportunity in Los Angeles — the city Charlie must specifically stay away from — he decides to risk taking her there.

Setting it all in motion is a small contrivance: Annie needs to bring her teaching certificate, which she left in a photo album at her ex-boyfriend, Gil's (Michael Rosenbaum), house. Gil is still obsessed with Annie and convinced Charlie's a rapist of some kind because of his shrouded past. Ultimately, he discovers Charlie's real identity and in hopes of getting Annie back, contacts the very people Charlie must hide from, including Alexander Dmitri, a dreadlocked Cooper with an attitude problem.

It takes some time for all this to build, during which we're treated to a lot of weirdness. Tom Arnold plays Randy, the incompetent U.S. marshal assigned to protect Charlie who must then take off after him when he leaves town, and to call him a klutz would be a gross understatement. He's a running punch line in the film, which is fitting because Arnold is sort of a running punch line, but as you're waiting for the tension to ratchet up in the movie, he's frustratingly flattening it.

The slow first half of the film will immediately disappoint anyone looking for something high octane with lots of speeding cars and action. There's plenty of spinning out, chasing and wrecks, plus peeks under the hood for bona fide car nerds, but this isn't an action movie.

Eventually, Shepard's style finds its groove in the chaos of Randy, Gil and Charlie's old gang chasing after him. The characters arguing over trivialities, namely calling each other out on the dumb (and typically violent) stuff they do, works better in contrast with tension and suspense because it becomes less predictable. Before the story really gets going, the humor feels forced and anecdotal because we're just waiting for Alexander to find out about Charlie and go after him. The script in this sense could've used a veteran writer's assistance to help the plot hit the ground running.

Admirably, the core of the story is way these events test the romance between Charlie and Annie. Shepard and Bell's real-life chemistry is apparent on screen and the slow beginning includes plenty of legwork to make them people you want to root for. When Annie finally learns exactly who Charlie was and freaks out over it, the two have a very legitimate and believable argument and we yearn for that problem to be resolved, even if the other characters and elements of the film are too borderline psychotic for things to end up any way but happy or in complete ruin.

With the number of oddball supporting characters, random violence, car porn and plenty of meta-talk about relationships, the overall tone of "Hit and Run" is ironic. The soundtrack is probably the best example, as it includes Lou Rawls' recording of "Pure Imagination" from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" during a car chase sequence, and the film ends with "Let My Love Open the Door," which has no place in a film unless you're trying to be cheesy on purpose.

"Hit and Run" could be a stepping stone to something bigger and better from Shepard, who might find more success if he took his brand to television or simply found a way to keep the energy up in future films so that the jokes will hit harder. In the meantime, "Hit and Run" avoids being total late-August junk, even if most will discover it down the road as a surprisingly decent rental.

~Steven C

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