I have to admit that my expectations for HOT PURSUIT were pretty limited…
That after seeing the trailer. On top of which, I’d suffered through Melissa McCarthy’s TAMMY last summer.
So I was prepared—and got exactly what I had expected – as in a female not-so-buddy slapstick road trip comedy.
Think of it as THELMA AND LOUISE meets SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT.
HOT PURSUIT is what one would call a High Concept Movie.
Translation: Its plot can pretty well be described in one sentence.
As in straight laced police officer escorts sexy widow of Mexican drug cartel member across Texas to testify against kingpin boss —while hilarity ensues.
Of course when the copper is portrayed by Reese Witherspoon and the baggage is Sophia Vergara, the mismatch can make for some pretty funny escapades. And there’s a bushelful throughout the film’s relatively short 87 minute running time. Trouble is the laughs seem incredibly forced….dirty cops, drug cartel thugs and all.
Yep, it’s a cross-Texas race to the Dallas court house with Witherspoon losing more and more control of Vergara’s “situation.”
“I’m protected by a mermaid.”
And it’s always food for thought when the outtakes at the end are funnier than the movie itself. Or as Ms Witherspoon puts it in one of those blunders: “a performance of a lifetime.”
The Georgia-filmed movie (tax breaks anyone?) was actually co-produced by Witherspoon with Vergara taking executive producing credits.
Anne Fletcher of THE PROPOSAL fame, directed it.
HOT PURSUIT scores a: C.
(Reviewed at Cinemark’s Palace theatre)
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings at 6:40 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. on 98.1 FM, KMBZ and anytime on Facebook.
Sounds like they were out for a money grab.
Was I too hard on this lame slapstick comedy? I don’t think so.
Since writing my review I’ve come across some other not-so-kind reviews. Like one referred to it as “this week’s Paul Blart.”
The LA TIMES calls “Hot Pursuit” an “equal opportunity fiasco” while the NY TIMES says it’s “lazily written.”
The BOSTON GLOBE pretty well sums it all up by calling the flick “lazy, dumb and unfunny.”