WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
Director/actress/choreographer Anne Fletcher takes on this zany story which begins with police officer Cooper (Reece Witherspoon), a somewhat stellar cop who is more known for her overly aggressive personality plus a particular incident that has caused fellow officers to coin the phrase “pulling a Cooper” when something gets screwed up, causing her to be given menial tasks rather than solid cases. Still wanting to be taken more seriously, Cooper gets recruited by her boss and a local Detective to escort Daniella Riva (Sofia Vergara), the wife of a drug dealer, safely to her court date to testify against the dealer’s boss who was recently arrested. Upon arrival at the couple’s home, however, things go very awry, and soon, Cooper and Daniella are on the run from both crooked cops and the drug lord’s men. Of course, their flight is anything but mutually pleasing to either of them, especially to Daniella, who cannot take Cooper seriously at all, often berating and teasing her whenever possible. And the more time they spend together, escaping sticky situations and trying not to kill one another, they begin to form an odd sort of friendship that only causes the entire scenario they face to become even more outrageous and complicated. But the depth of their new “bond” is put to a genuine test when a twist in their journey comes about, and soon, it becomes evident that regardless of how they really feel, they will need each other to come out on top.
Fletcher is known for these types of comedies, more specifically the rom-com hit, “The Proposal“, which so deftly utilized its two leads together in the most smartly funny situations and hilarious bantering. Unfortunately, “Hot Pursuit”, while having the established comedic pedigree of both Witherspoon and Vergara, ends up falling on its face. Feeling like the film was going for the playful innocence of a “Paul Blart” but with the comedy being more along the lines of “Anchorman“, the material just doesn’t do either facet justice. Witherspoon is more than capable of humor (check out “Legally Blonde” and “Sweet Home Alabama“), but here it honestly felt fake and forced, almost too shallow in its goofiness for the film’s potentially riotous premise. Vergara really steals the show here, and does illicit some great laughs, but even then, it just doesn’t seem as “true” as seeing her with smarter comedic elements like “Modern Family“. While this reviewer will most certainly admit to liking many zany, off-the-wall efforts that some might find stupid (such as aforementioned “Paul Blart”), this effort wasn’t filled with enough actual moments of great humor to evoke consistent laughs. So, overall, it is a shame to see the talents of Witherspoon and Vergara mostly wasted, and while this also was by no means the worst comedy ever made, it just couldn’t elevate above an “Eh” or being nothing more than mildly entertaining. It would be excellent to see these two actresses team up again, but in something much more worthy of what they can offer to comedy.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
