“Hot Pursuit” is another in a long line of half baked festering “Midnight Run” wannabes where our two cast members fail to live up to any expectations of chemistry we might have. For all their talents, Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara can’t muster any kind of friction or tension between them. Instead they come off as bickering harpies that fail to do anything but annoy. And “Hot Pursuit” tries harder than anything to create some memorable laughs, and barely comes up with a chortle in the duration of its goofy ridiculous narrative.
Witherspoon is Cooper a militant police officer given desk duty after a botched arrest. When she’s assigned to retrieve the wife of a drug cartel, events spiral out of control when a failed kidnapping finds Cooper and Daniella Riva (Vergara) on the road and on the run from the kidnappers. They’re then greeted with all kinds of madcap obstacles and goofy circumstances, none of which are any fun. And often time really dull. You figure a movie starring two women who are capable of producing some laughs at their best, would be filled with some classic madcap. Instead it’s a series of skits and comedic segments neither cast member can really pull off. There’s just nothing but flat comedy here without a laugh to go around. Witherspoon is never sure if she’s in the movie to play straight man or comedienne, and she clashes with Vergara who seems to be having the same confusion with her role.
They instead trade dynamics throughout the movie with no avail, allowing for a lot of really stupid and lame sight gags and misadventures. At one point Witherspoon’s character Cooper and Vergara’s Riva cross a police check point by draping themselves in a deer skin, and begin bickering over what sound a deer makes. This is a segment that could have at least drawn some snickers, but it’s so poorly handled and written it’s tough to really appreciate what they’re going for. What’s worse is that rather than relying on the pair of cast members to produce an interesting narrative, the film halfway falls back on a romance sub-plot that’s just as forced as the pairing of Witherspoon and Vergara.
“Hot Pursuit” is a movie that looks like it could be very charming, and you want to give it every benefit of the doubt, but at every turn it’s just so obnoxious and flat. It’s such a vanilla comedy that never really takes advantage of its premise at all, and just stays on the safe zone. The writers completely botch every joke with an opportunity to draw laughs just to stay on the PG-13 level of the audience. Even a gag involving Witherspoon and Vergara pretending to be lesbian lovers, and Witherspoon accidentally sniffing loose cocaine are completely sapped of raunch and or comic potential, so it’s a complete let down. This is a movie that makes Vergara’s sex appeal dull, and she almost always pops out of even the worst film. “Hot Pursuit” is about as terrible as any road trip comedy I’ve ever seen. Witherspoon is better than this tripe, Vergara is so much better than this tripe, and I frankly am infinitely better than this tripe.
The Blu-Ray and DVD combo comes with a goofy segment about the language difficulties between both actresses. Haha? “The Womance” is a three minute segment about Witherspoon and Vergara recalling the fun they had on set. At least someone had fun with this. “Action Like a Lady” is a gag reel of outtakes and alternate takes. Finally there’ the Alternate Ending clocking in at a minute and a half.