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Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez may have already starred in two of the year’s best films (“Before Midnight” and “Spring Breakers,” respectively), but in “Getaway,” they shift gears to co-pilot what’s almost certainly one of the year’s worst.
Hawke is Brent Magna, an ex-racer living in Bulgaria, who’s forced by his wife’s kidnapper, known only as “The Voice” (Jon Voight), to steal a Shelby Mustang Super Snake and go on a high speed, citywide crime spree. Credited as “The Kid,” Gomez is a hard-edged teen who gets tossed in the mix after holding Brent at gunpoint, then being forced by The Voice to ride shotgun.
While it’s never not stupid, “Getaway” is far more fun when it makes no sense whatsoever. Early on, before Gomez comes aboard, The Voice, who says he’ll kill Brent’s wife, Leanne (Rebecca Budig), if all of his rules aren’t followed, tells Brent to simply careen down city streets and smash into everything possible for no discernible reason. The film doesn’t seem to have a clue that it’s campy, but at least the absurdity makes for giggly fun.
Sadly, all entertainment value soon comes to a screeching halt, as Brent and The Kid do The Voice’s bidding while implausibly evading all police, and laying on exposition as thick as the heads of the film’s makers (script duties went to Gregg Maxwell Parker and Sean Finegan, while Courtney Solomon directs). Gomez may have a real future as an actress, but you know you’re in trouble when a cute-as-a-button, tweeny pop star is schooling you, lecture-hall-style, on the latest in tech surveillance.
But the biggest problem is the way “Getaway” is constructed. Though the makers have boasted that they avoided all computer-generated imagery, and destroyed some 130 vehicles, the supposed realism doesn’t do a thing to change the film’s non-visceral feel. Partially and hideously shot on security-cam video, and edited with all the grace of a drunken joy-rider, the movie has a franticness that keeps the viewer at a far remove. It’s best to maintain distance by avoiding “Getaway” altogether.
Getaway
R
One reel out of four
Now playing at area theaters
Recommended Rental
Love Is All You Need
R
Available Tuesday
Directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, “Love is All You Need” makes up in acting talent and atmosphere what it lacks in tonal strength. The Sorrento-set, partially Danish-language romance-comedy has its share of trite elements and on-the-nose bits, but it also boasts a fine turn from the luminous Trine Dyrholm, and the best performance ever from Pierce Brosnan, who plays a cantankerous English businessman revived by the love of Dyrholm’s in-remission hairdresser. SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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