I'm sorry to say, the best part of The Accidental Getaway Driver for me gets covered in the title. This is a phenomenon I see a lot. Someone reads a crazy news headline and determines that should be a movie. And I get it. "Three escaped convicts use an old cab driver for their getaway" is a hell of a pitch. That's not a movie though. It's the start of a movie.
Director Sing J. Lee does get several good performances out of the movie. Hiep Tran Nghia is an 80-year-old discovery for me. Dustine Nguyen is great as a criminal who doesn't know how bad he's willing to be. And Dali Benssalah brings the crazy. Ultimately, I like the place where the story ends up, with the experience leading to Nghia's character finally opening himself back up to the world. The bulk of the movie didn't do a lot for me though. I just didn't feel the tension I needed to. Perhaps it's because I never actually believed Lee would die. The plan of the escaped convicts exists in an in between space. It's wasn't a brilliant plan falling apart that leaves them flailing. It wasn't something hasty that left them guessing wildly. It was a boring plan. Maybe that's truer to life, but it didn't keep me locked in. To be fair, I don't think tension was meant to be the driver of the movie. Sadly, the assorted conversations between Nghia and Nguyen didn't do it enough for me. I think their relationship is the backbone of the movie that is meant to sustain me and sadly, it just didn't.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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