REVIEW: Hot Pursuit Needs Back Up

Female driven comedies are arriving more and more frequently, delivering a new brand of laughs to audiences. Films such as Bridesmaids and The Heat built themselves enormous fan bases and became cult favorites instantly. Although, the aforementioned titles belong to Paul Feig, this weekend, Anne Fletcher introduces her new female led comedy to theaters - Hot Pursuit. 

Fletcher is no rookie when it comes to directing. Fletcher's resume includes a couple of crowd pleasers among their respective genres - 27 Dresses, The Proposal, and Step Up, which launched an enormous franchise. Hot Pursuit, however, will not be launching any franchise.

Officer Cooper (Reese Witherspoon) is an incredibly dim witted, yet equally intelligent southern belle (that's about how much sense you'll find in Hot Pursuit) dressed up in a police uniform with an annoying and fake southern accent. She is craving redemption after becoming a police headquarters tale when she tased a young man for yelling, "Shotgun!" as he walked towards his car. The move is pegged as, "Pulling a Cooper," by police everywhere. Her social cues are missing but like Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory, her brain functions literally, with stellar memorization and problem solving skills. Maybe they're related?

The other half of the buddy comedy is half-heartedly played by Sofia Vergara as Danielle Riva. Riva and her husband (Vincent Laresca) are set to testify against dangerous drug boss Vicente Cortez in Dallas. When the plan abruptly goes awry in the Riva's estate, Cooper and Riva have to travel to Dallas, all the while hiding from gangbangers and dirty cops.

The adventure sets up a handful of moments that will garner chuckles from audiences but instead of capitalizing on humorous opportunities, takes predictable routes going for cheap laughs. Vergara and Witherspoon are both talented actresses but in Hot Pursuit seem disinterested to be on camera. Rather, the bloopers in the credits show the audience the joke the two seem to be taking the movie for. 

Although almost nothing in Hot Pursuit hasn't been seen before. It would be deceitful not to mention the awkward love interest thrown into the mix when the women find Randy (Robert Kazinsky) in the bed of their stolen pick-up truck. Cooper and Randy suddenly dive into an unwarranted lust that will trigger gag reflexes in the farthest corners of the theater.

The disinterested performances, lack of control, and predictability of jokes take away from what could have been. Hot Pursuit will be seen by few and soon forgotten by that same group. Maybe on the way out of the theater, viewers will reminisce on a couple lines or pick one particular scene out as funny, but overall the 87 minute film only packed enough laughs for a 30 minute TV sit-com.

Bottom Line: Predictable jokes and slack performances from cast and director bog down what was already a stock comedy film. 4.8/10