Kristin Chenoweth

Dax Shepard, Kristin Bell Stall Out in ‘Hit & Run’

BrianTT — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:02:45 -0400

Rating: 1.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Pardon the clichés for a minute. I can’t help myself. Dax Shepard’s “Hit & Run” doesn’t just lose the drag race. It doesn’t just blow a flat tire or run out of gas. Think of all the Shalit-esque puns you can about a disastrous experience in a car and apply them to this lurching mess of five or six movies that aspires to be Tarantino-esque but completely misses its mark. There are a number of likable people in “Hit & Run” and they’ll walk away clean from this accident but audiences will want to quickly forget they ever took the ride.

Shepard wrote, co-directed, and stars as Charlie Bronson, a name his character chose for himself when he entered the witness protection program after testifying against a notorious criminal played by Bradley Cooper. Bronson has been living peacefully in a small town with his lovely girlfriend Annie (Kristen Bell) while occasionally meeting with his irritable WitSec Officer Randy (Tom Arnold). When Annie gets an amazing job opportunity in Los Angeles, Charlie decides to take the risk of traveling with her out of his protective bubble. When Annie’s ex Gil (Michael Rosenbaum) gets suspicious enough about Charlie to blow his cover online and get the bad guys back after him, a “True Romance”-esque journey across country ensues.

Hit and Run
Photo credit: Open Road

“Hit & Run” has elements and moments that work. In fact, it opens strong with a tender dialogue scene between Shepard and Bell that feels reminiscent of Shepard’s recent indie film “The Freebie.” And then the film shifts gears and becomes something wacky and broad with Arnold. And then it switches again and becomes a car race movie with extended driving sequences a la “Death Proof.” And then it switches gears again and becomes a relationship dramedy with the arrival of Gil. By the time that Cooper was throwing a leash around a grown man and dragging him around, I had completely tired of keeping track of the references.

To say that all of these characters and tones never mesh into one overall experience would be a massive understatement. “Hit & Run” lurches when it should cruise. And it comes to a complete halt at several moments such as when it gets bizarrely racist and homophobic later in the movie or in the fact that it thinks old naked people are funny…twice. There are times when “Hit & Run” approaches true disaster, such as in a recurring bit about a smart phone app that finds gay people nearby or the aforementioned leash scene, but it’s mostly just disappointing.

Hit and Run
Photo credit: Open Road

The level of disappointment is heightened by who’s involved. Shepard is a talented guy who has given strong performances on “Parenthood” over the last few years but he shoots too high here, trying to ape the tonal changes of Tarantino and not realizing that QT’s talent level is not something easily mimicked. I’d love to see Shepard as a lead in something more consistent because I think he’s charismatic as an actor but this film is just too inconsistent on a script and directorial level. And Bell was one of the most charismatic actresses on TV in “Veronica Mars” but she’s just as lost here as anyone else.

That’s the best word for “Hit & Run” – lost. Shepard’s film jumps styles, tones, senses of humor, genres, and does so in a way that’s more like someone with multiple personality disorder than an interesting eccentric. Some of the car chase scenes might be worth catching on cable and I go back to that first scene – the heartfelt one between Shepard & Bell that felt so real – and think about the movie that could have been. It’s easily the best scene in “Hit & Run.” Before they get in the car and…well, you know.

“Hit & Run” stars Dax Shepard, Kristin Bell, Tom Arnold, Bradley Cooper, Joy Bryant, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Rosenbaum, and Beau Bridges. It was written by Shepard and directed by David Palmer & Shepard. It was released on August 22, 2012.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Andy Samberg, Witty Script Lift Animated ‘Space Chimps’ Off Launching Pad

HollywoodChicago.com — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:50:01 -0400

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – So far in the 2008 summer animation season we’ve seen cuddly martial artists (“Kung Fu Panda”) and robots in love (“WALL-E”).

But where are the monkeys and how long before the first joke about flinging their poo? Both desires are satisfied in the playfully visual and wryly funny “Space Chimps,” which is anchored by the vocal talents of Andy Samberg (“Saturday Night Live”).

Ham III (Andy Samberg) – the slacker grandson of the first chimp blasted into space before manned spaceflight – takes off into out-of-this-world adventure and comedy in “Space Chimps”.
Image credit: Vanguard Animation

Andy Samberg voices Ham III in “Space Chimps”.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Samberg is the voice of Ham III: the chimp grandson of the first NASA monkey in space. He has been reduced to being an attraction in a cheap circus under the guidance of his grandfather’s old buddy Houston (Carlos Alazragui).

Meanwhile at Cape Canaveral, the reputation of the space program rests on the discovery of a wormhole in space that has sent a probe to a distant and life-sustaining planet.

On that planet, it turns out the probe has been captured by a rubbery, blue life force named Zartog (Jeff Daniels). Zartog’s intent is to use the multi-tasking machine to enslave his fellow inhabitants.

It’s up to the space program on Earth to send another rocket through the wormhole to retrieve the probe. The only problem is that humans might not survive the wormhole experience.

Cheryl Hines voices Luna in “Space Chimps”.
Image credit: 20th Century Fox

Enter chimp astronauts Luna (Cheryl Hines) and Titan (Patrick Warburton). They’re joined by a reluctant Ham III who has been recruited by the astronaut program for marketing purposes. It’s up to this unlikely simian team to save the day on the distant planet and keep the space race on Earth alive.

The beauty of this rather conventional, kiddy adventure is that it revels in not taking anything seriously. The script is peppered with stupid physical comedy, silly puns and dry witticisms on the concepts of space and monkeys. This mood is fun for both children and adults and it grandly accomplishes its entertainment mission.

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While the computer animation is clean and graphic, the faces are still a bit creepy in extreme close-up.

The design of the distant world seems to pay homage to Dr. Seuss with the inhabitants looking similar to the residents of Whoville. One character in particular – Kilowatt (a great Kristin Chenoweth) – is cute comic relief. She practices heroics by singing operatic notes and traveling through the digestive system of a flesh-eating monster.

The silliness is contagious in this film with tributes to past space movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Right Stuff” adding to the farce. The geeky mission scientists are particularly droll. They provide a jokey repartee to the evolving process of monkeys in space.

It’s impossible not to like a “cartoon” with an adventure on the Cloud of Id. It’s Ham III himself who defines the spirit behind this terrific family comedy when he remarks: “Life is a circus. Only the tents get bigger.”

“Space Chimps,” which stars Andy Samberg, Jeff Daniels, Cheryl Hines, Patrick Warburton, Kristin Chenoweth, Carlos Alazragui and Stanley Tucci, opened on July 18, 2008.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com