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Chicago – Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell are an awfully cute couple. Their effortless puppy-dog chemistry is sweet without being cloying and endearing without verging into treacle. Resembling a more stretched-out and irreverent Zach Braff, Shepard makes Bell appear more at ease than she ever has before on film. I can’t imagine a better pairing for a romantic comedy.

How sad that these real-life lovebirds decided to make their debut in “Hit & Run,” an alleged comedy so pitifully devoid of laughter that it drains the viewer of every last ounce of merriment. It’s the sort of shrill, pratfall-laden junk that passed for entertainment back when the Hazzard cousins’ General Lee cheerfully soared into oblivion. If car chases, blood-spattered slapstick and humorous homophobic tirades sound like an appealing combination, then writer/co-director Shepard has made a movie for you.

Blu-ray Rating: 1.0/5.0

For everyone else, “Hit & Run” is an unbearably tedious...

This chase comedy doesn't have too many real laughs and is disconcertingly serious about all the motor love

Some petrolhead japes in this souped-up, retro-styled chase movie, calling up memories of Smokey and the Bandit and Freebie and the Bean, but with the non-pc attitudes and vocab erased or ironised away. It's amiable, but the more miles it clocks up, the more this film looks like a vanity vehicle for its co-director, writer and star, Dax Shepard. He plays Charlie Bronson, a guy who has taken witness protection in a no-horse town in the middle of nowhere, having testified against some scary bank robbers back in La. But Charlie is now in a mature relationship with Annie (Kristen Bell), an academic sociologist specialising in non-violent conflict resolution. When Charlie offers to bust his protection conditions to drive Annie to a job interview at UCLA, he runs into his old associates,...

Here’s a new film that’s essentially a nostalgic trip down ‘ grindhouse’ lane. Or perhaps it’s more like a gravel-churning trek to the old drive-in. The “passion pit” was the showcase for the muscle car action-chase flick genre that may have begun with the success of Robert Mitchum’s moonshine-runner epic Thunder Road. This spawned countless imitators over the last few decades with Dirty Mary/ Crazy Larry, the original Gone In 60 Seconds and Ron Howard’s one-two punch of Eat My Dust ( with the immortal ad line ” Ronny Howard pops the clutch and tells Smokey to eat my dust” ) and Ron’s feature directing debut Grand Theft Auto. The genre hit its zenith in 1977 with the monster box office smash, Hal Needham’s Smokey And The Bandit ( and its two sequels ). Well, now comic actor Dax Shepard ( TV’s Parenthood ) has decided to put his own spin ( ouch!

The last time we saw Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard together on the big screen was for 2010.s lackluster .When in Rome.. Now, the real-life sweethearts team up for .Hit and Run. and I can tell you that this romantic car chase comedy is much better than their previous pairing.

The film draws you in right from the very beginning when Annie (Bell) and Charlie (Shepard) are canoodling on the bed. We get to meet the main characters in their most intimate moment. Charlie is trying to sooth his fiancée, Annie, because she is extremely nervous. She.s on her way to meeting her boss at a local college, Debby Kreeger, played by the scene stealing Kristin Chenoweth.

There are indeed many scene stealers in the movie. Among them is Tom Arnold as the bumbling U.S. Marshal Randy Anderson. He.s there to protect Charlie, who we learn, is within the witness protection program.

Tom Arnold attempts to help Dax Shepard break into the action film business in this hilarious mockumentary, in a theater this Friday.

Having made its VOD premiere on April 20th, Dax Shepard's Brother's Justice is set to make its big screen debut this Friday, May 13th at 7:30, at the Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theater in Hollywood, California. This half-true, half-mockumentary look at the world of action films and what it takes to break into the genre was written, directed, and stars Dax Shepard as himself. He is joined on screen by fellow comedic actor and longtime friend Tom Arnold, who is conned into participating in this often hilarious look at the world of filmmaking and what it takes for an actor to change his image amongst a sometimes stubborn public.

We recently caught up with Tom Arnold to chat about his involvement in this comedy experiment. Here is our conversation.