As the police surround the building, Ned takes Lucas hostage to facilitate his escape. Because of Lucas’s criminal history, Detective Dugan (James Earl Jones) mistakenly believes that Lucas is the mastermind behind the robbery and that the two are working together. Forced onto the run, Lucas, Ned, and Ned's six-year-old daughter, Meg, become unlikely partners as they attempt to evade the police and make it to the Canadian border.

The film is an American crime comedy written and directed by Francis Veber, serving as a remake of his own 1986 French film Les Fugitifs .

The story follows Daniel Lucas (played by Nick Nolte), a notorious bank robber who is released from prison after serving five years. Determined to go straight, he visits a bank to cash his prison check. While there, an inept and desperate novice named Ned Perry (Martin Short) attempts to rob the same bank to pay for his mute daughter’s medical care.