Hot Pursuit

Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon in one movie, sounds like an exciting combo that calls for a celebration. But when an uninspired and lazy script is employed to run the party, the celebration is surely ruined even before it begins.

There is nothing in HOT PURSUIT worth pursuing, and to even try to follow it screechingly run for its pursuit, warrants a mortifying disappointment. This a serious downgrade for both actresses, and it's hard to imagine how dumb the film makers have gone by putting them up to work against an almost empty material.

Witherspoon is an inept police named Cooper, and tries to work all by-the-book. She's assigned to protect the widow (Vergara) of a drug syndicate boss. From the get go, there's nothing between these two that could be summed up to something that bears resemblance to chemistry. It's a ridiculous idea, not just because it doesn't seem to work at the very beginning, but also because of the movie's relentless attempts to make something out of them than can be sensible. Vergara and Witherspoon play characters that are nothing more than predictable and miserably-written. Where these characters are mined, are the same territory where countless other successful comedy outings found their material. But they serve no purpose and do no favor for the performers, as the very structure of the narrative is lazily constructed and uninspired. The result are characters that are too hard to care about. I know a few of these buddy comedies that are never less entertaining, and while it's not totally a bad idea to follow their leads, Hot Pursuit has just horribly failed to trail even the least satisfying entry of the genre. You can't blame the actors, totally, because there is barely something from such bad writing, for them to work out, in the first place. Everything seems misplaced here, the characters, the humor, and all those messed-up action scenes. You would hope for a more sensible ending to come and save it from all those mess, but no, what comes in the end, is only something to top that heap of nonsense and mediocrity. HOT PURSUIT is too lazy and uninspired to be worth a chuckle, that unless you're only up for killing time, there's nothing in it that's worth of recommendation.

There's something quite improbable about Hot Pursuit. Its leads simply don't add up. Aren't the days of patently broad comedy behind Reese Witherspoon, especially after her stunning, Oscar-nominated turn in Wild? And why would anybody even think to pair her in a crime caper with the remarkably sexy Sofia Vergara, whose thick Colombian accent is as much a delight as it is an ongoing plot point on TV's Modern Family? Whatever the case may be, the final result is a generally charming, if occasionally tired, buddy comedy that benefits from the charisma and unexpected chemistry of its co-stars.

Police officer Cooper (Witherspoon) is finding it hard to measure up to her legendary dad - rather than busting criminals on the streets, she's stuck bagging evidence in the basement. But everything changes for the earnest, awkward cop when she's assigned to the protective detail of Daniella Riva (Sofia Vergara), the apparently flighty and spoiled wife of a drug lord who's about to rat on his boss. When Daniella becomes a widow in a shootout that goes very badly indeed, the two women must go on the run - with cops and criminals in hot pursuit.

Strictly speaking, Hot Pursuit isn't a particularly good film. Its plot is mostly predictable: there's never any doubt that these two diametrically opposite women will bond despite their differences and, as a result, triumph over all the adversities and adversaries (including each other) they encounter on the road. There's nothing at all highbrow about the humour on display here, which ranges from the slapstick (Cooper and Daniella struggle to get out of a bathroom window) to the infantile (the pair desperately try to distract an angry man pointing a rifle at them). It's funny, sure, but it isn't always smart about it.

And yet, there's something about the film that's hard to resist. For all of its plot-related flaws, Hot Pursuit benefits from two lead characters who are sharply drawn and imbued with a richness that's frankly surprising in throwaway comedies of this sort. At least initially, both women appear to fit their stereotypes: Cooper is the quintessential if rather awkward girl-next-door, and Daniella a flighty, materialistic sexpot. But the film gives them the opportunity to get out of these boxes, as Cooper regains confidence in herself and Daniella demonstrates just how resourceful she can be.

The interplay between the duo is also delightful: fireworks fly and silliness abounds whenever Cooper tries to stick to the rules and regulations, which have clearly never bothered Daniella a day in her life. As the duo insult each other with merry abandon, an odd friendship springs up between them - and it works very well indeed, whether they're commandeering vehicles or posing as a woodland creature (yes, really).

This is due in no small part to the combined charm and chemistry of both Witherspoon and Vergara. They won't strike anybody as the most likely of cinematic pairings, but there's a goofy amiability to their relationship both on screen and off (as evidenced by the bloopers that accompany the credits). Flinging their dignity to the winds, both actresses play their occasionally undercooked roles with so much zest and joy that it's great fun just to watch them in action. Witherspoon, in particular, is so winning in her wholehearted embracing of the film's zany comedy that it's to be hoped she doesn't just stick to sombre Oscar-worthy dramas in future.

It's easy to expect the worst of Hot Pursuit - it looks like a by-the-numbers movie that its co-stars were under pain of death (or contractual obligation) to complete, an effort that they would rather forget before getting on with their careers. But looks can be deceiving: a message reinforced by the script's surprisingly warm and appealing treatment of its main characters. Forgive the film some of its unfunny business, and hang on for an unexpectedly enjoyable ride.

I saw some brief videos on Instagram of this movie on some movie pages I follow. It looked really good and comical. 30 minutes into watching it I turned it off. Nothing about this movie was funny or practical. The "police work" was so bad an unrealistic. Nothing about this movie was funny. All the actors and actresses did nothing but annoy me. How anyone could rate this higher than 3 is beyond me.

The entire movie is very lazily written, and panders to those who aren't phased by the same movie being released four times a year.

Every scene in the movie feels like it's been done a million times before. Every time something happens, you already know what's going to go on for the next ten minutes.

I had low expectations going into this and even then I was shocked at how offensively unfunny this movie is. I can forgive a movie when it tries to do something inventive or experimental and falls flat, but Hot Pursuit is the most cookie-cutter "buddy" comedy you can imagine, using cheap gags that have been done a hundred times before and two talented leads that cannot save this abomination of a movie no matter how hard they try.

Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara are talented and funny when given the opportunity. Hot Pursuit however goes out of its way to make them as unlikable, unfunny, and downright annoying as possible. Witherspoon uses a terrible Southern accent the whole movie, which is weird because she used a similar accent 20 years ago (Freeway) and it sounded perfectly fine. Vergara's accent is hard enough to understand but it's amped up to 100 here making half her lines indecipherable. There are moments where you can tell the two actresses are having fun, but the material is so lazy that none of it comes across in the actual dialogue. In fact the most enjoyable banter between them is during the outtakes where they're not obligated to follow the horrendous script.

I can nitpick this movie to death but what's the point. Watch the trailers - if it looks funny to you then you'll probably get a kick out of it. If not, avoid this like the plague. However as a fan of action comedies and stupid humor in general (The Other Guys and Harold & Kumar are hilarious to me), Hot Pursuit failed on every level and then some.