Car chase into river was a bit contrived...

Seems a bit contrived just for some action scenes. So when Jeff's frantically calling his friend at the FBI, the same guy (Earl) that bullied him at the gas station, who is also in on the scheme, pulls up behind him, gets out of the car and aims a shotgun at him... Remember, at this point, Jeff doesn't know this dude is in on it, he thinks he's just some road rage guy. We, the audience, kinda know, but kinda don't know either. All Earl had to say was, "Do you want to see your wife again?" But nah, he wants to confuse Jeff for shits and giggles. Well, you can argue Jeff didn't give Earl enough time to talk because he put his car in reverse and peeled out. So a chase ensues, and Jeff drives into the river. Here's the next contrived thing.. You can argue Earl didn't have time to talk before, but why the hell is he shooting at Jeff while he's in the river? What's the point here? How you gonna get the ransom money if he's dead? LOL! You can argue he's missing on purpose and steering Jeff towards a certain direction, but that's farfetch... because did he plan for him to go down the river too? Also, after Earl shot at Jeff a couple of times, he climbs back up and his tow truck buddy comes, Earl tells him frantically, "He got away!!" Does that sound like someone who knew what he was doing, steering his victim with purposely missed bullets? Ultimately, they do catch Jeff, and the plot unfolds... they want ransom money. All this was to confuse the viewers, but it makes no sense in the movie.