Cooper (Reese Witherspoon) a police officer in Texas practically grew up in the back of a squad car. Her father was a well-respected policeman his entire life and Cooper has every intention of following in her father’s footsteps. One problem, Cooper is an officer that lives by the book and never wonders above and beyond the policies of being a policewoman. So much so that she became the joke of her force. Yet when her boss Captain Emmett (John Carroll Lynch) requests her to drive along with Detective Jackson (Richard T. Jones) to protect and escort two important witnesses, Felipe Riva (Vincent Laresca) and his wife Daniella (Sofia Vergara) to a courthouse hearing in Dallas against suspected drug lord and murderer Vicente Cortez (Joaquin Cosio) all hell breaks loose.
During a shootout at the Riva residence several players get involved causing Cooper to flee the scene with Mrs. Riva in a race to Dallas so that she can testify and save her own life at the same time. Cooper learns she can’t trust anyone including Detective Hauser (Matthew Del Negro) and Detective Dixon (Michael Mosley) as well as Jesus (Benny Nieves) and Angel (Michael Ray Escamilla) but thankfully the women on their journey to Dallas come across a new friend Randy (Robert Kazinsky) who forms a crush on Cooper. Dogs, a dead deer, senior citizens, vehicle chases, guns, drugs, and a lot of cleavage later, the story takes a number of twists and turns that eventually leads up to a climatic ending and a major shot in the arm.
I guess I had high expectations and regretfully so they were not achieved, “Hot Pursuit” is more of a hot mess. I am a huge fan of both women but for some reason they just did not meld well together. Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy now that is a perfect twosome yet Reese and Sofia together not so much, separately yes but as a couple not really, even Rebel Wilson would have been better, bad casting on this one. Although I must say I think the direction of the film was a bit rough and jumpy at times which did not help the story line as well. The writers gave out some decent monologue but I think it got lost many times in the direction which even seemed to affect the acting. A nice score with some good photography helps the film but not enough to say it worked in the end. Like I said Witherspoon and Vergara are both funny actresses but they just did not seem to click here. Del Negro and Mosley play well as does Nieves and Escamilla for the screen time they share as well as Lynch and Kazinsky yet overall it was the two leading ladies that should have conquered the audience and with the exception of the outtakes at the end they fell short. The film is still fun to watch but just not as funny as one would think, silly but not so much funny. Written yet enjoyed with one and half paws out of four by Jon Patch.
