Parents' Guide to Pursuit

This messy, convoluted action movie is so incomprehensible that it's difficult to say what it's actually about, other than a whole bunch of characters shooting each other and blowing stuff up. Not even the title gives much of a clue. In Pursuit, we have one character who's mourning a dead wife and another who's searching for a missing wife, presumed dead. We have two father-and-son drug duos, one of which is simply known as "Frank and John." We have a man walking away in slo-mo from an explosion. We have a character (Cusack) who spends most of the movie constantly flipping steaks on his gas grill -- so frequently that they'll surely never cook.

The only thing that's somewhat clear here is that everyone is after Rick, although the reasons why aren't clear. Hirsch takes being the center of attention and runs with it, donning a strange wardrobe (at one point he wears only underwear and long socks), dark glasses, and tattoos and delivering his lines in a cool, unhurried manner. When a car comes to his rescue during a chase, Rick climbs in and says, "you can drive... if you like." It's too bad the rest of Pursuit forgets to have fun along with Hirsch. Manley plays every scene with the same blank expression, leaving poor Ludlow stranded, and Cusack looks simply perturbed over having to be here. We can't blame him.