There is no doubt in my mind this movie was miss-titled, it should have been called miss and run away. You know how the rest of this review is going to go.
Unfortunately I probably should explain the movies "plot". I feel kind of wrong having to write it down. Dax Shepard plays Charlie, a guy who's in the witness protection programme. His girlfriend, played by Kirsten Bell has been offered a job opportunity in LA. The trouble is, whoever Charlie ratted out to the cops, are in LA. Wanting the relationship to last Charlie decides to drive his girlfriend to LA. His girlfriends ex, played by the unrecognizable Michael Rosenbaum, gets wind and being the jealous type, contacts his brother, a cop, and finds Charlies' name before he came into the witness protection programme (seemingly, it's that easy!). Her ex contacts Alex Dimitri, played by Bradley Cooper but with tinted glasses and dreadlocks, by Facebook and is set on getting revenge on Charlie, who ratted him out.
What ensues is a chase movie but with dialogue. The kind of dialogue, I assume the idea was to make the characters more intelligent and deeper than they seem, finding themselves in funny situations, like entering an elderly orgy by accident, or having a discussion about the cons of using the term "fags". For me the movie was trying to be a Tarantino movie, quirky characters having quirky conversations and ending up in quirky situations, but it all falls very flat. The first problem is none of the characters are particularly likable. Charlie is a bit of a dick and Kirsten Bells' Annie is just annoying; seriously, you'd risk your life driving to LA for her?
The dialogue is pretty pointless and unfunny. It's far from being as funny and clever as it thinks it is. And it jumps in between characters abruptly without the audience being able to get their bearings about what the hell is going on. Tom Arnold appears as Charlies' incompetent police protection. If I was an officer in the Witness Protection Programme I think I'd write a strongly worded letter to the director, who turns out to be the lead, Dax Shepard, who happens to be Kirsten Bells' boyfriend. And they produced! Really Kirsten Bell, you can do better because I was wondering what you were doing in this. The same can be said for Bradley Cooper, and how Beau Bridges and Jason Bateman got talked into cameos, I'll never know. Perhaps Kirsten Bell was asked to appear in Arrested Development and she was owed a favour.
I'm really not trying to be mean, as I like Cooper and Bell as actors, and they can produce so much more. But I really thought the movie, with a running time of 100 mins, was 100 mins too long. I was happy to walk out at any time. The cars were kind of cool, but that's the only thing I liked about the movie. And it's pretty obvious it was made on a budget, most of the action taking place in the desert, and there seemed to be a lack of extras.
I don't know why you would have any reason to watch this movie, maybe, just maybe, if you're hung over some Sunday and there is absolutely nothing to watch. Even then, I'd avoid it if I can.