"You Need to Stop Treating Me Like Some Rookie Cop that Doesn't Know What She's Doing."
Sometimes I really wonder whether there’s a conspiracy against women in Hollywood that involves making sure the only films with female leads that get produced are shitty. There’s enough good female-led films to refute this theory, but that’s the only reason I can think of that something like “Hot Pursuit” could even be CONSIDERED for development.
The trailer for “Hot Pursuit” is a very good one, in that it cobbles together the five funny moments of the film and creates an advertisement for something passable, not a great film but something to go see with some friends on a hot day when you’ve got nothing better to do. I’m here to warn you: “Hot Pursuit” should be avoided at all costs. I had this huge speech planned when I decided that I was going to review this film about how even if the film isn’t great it’s cool that a mediocre comedy starring two women is being made in the first place and everyone should take this as a good sign, but I was wrong; “Hot Pursuit” does not deserve defending, and the fact that it stars two women was probably the reason it never got shut the hell down at some point during development.
I’m feeling frustrated, because “Hot Pursuit” had a chance to be a decent comedy. Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara are both funny women, and they are trying very hard in this film to make the most out of the material but it just isn’t working. They don’t have too much chemistry together, and their scenes often devolve into loud hyperactive messes; it feels like the director (Anne Fletcher of 2012’s “Guilt Trip”) let them do whatever they felt like on the screen without taking the necessary step of crafting their impulses. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had done so though, because the script (by the minds who brought you “Aquamarine” and several episodes of “The World According to Jim”) is a confused mish-mosh of cop movie clichés and groan-worthy romantic comedy tropes. The creative team comes from an established pedigree of unfunny, and they take what should have been a sure thing (I found the idea of Witherspoon and Vergara on the run from the law together to be pretty exciting) and turn it into a tone-deaf dud. One scene in particular, where the two women attempt to distract an angry redneck played by Jim Gaffigan by pretending to make out, is so painfully awkward and clumsy that I had to forcefully resist walking out of the theatre.
It’s rare for a comedy this bad to exist; “RV” starring Robin Williams is coming into my mind as a point of comparison. Both films star an award-winning actor who was probably hired to hide a poor script and aimless plotting, both films rely on cheap gags and contrived set-ups, and both make me question how the whole pitch system works in the first place. How does a film like this get made? How are so many other films passed over in favor of something that turns out to be such a train wreck? Could anyone have saved it? Was there any hope at all?
And then I have to take a deep breath and move on. It won’t take me long to forget “Hot Pursuit”, but it also won’t take long for that old set of questions to be raised again.
DRINK:
Tequila. Lots of it.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink whenever someone talks about "Coopering" something. Stealing a gag from "Community" does not reflect well on you, movie.
-Drink when someone says something in Spanish.
-Drink when the conversation turns to Daniella's shoes.
-Drink when Daniella insults Cooper's lack of femininity. THAT'S a fun gag!
-Drink when something bad happens to a car or a bus or a truck.
This review was written by Hollis Beck (Krissy Pappau). "Hot Pursuit" was produced by MGM and Newline Cinema, and distributed by Warner Bros. This film is rated "PG-13" with a runtime of 87 minutes.
I’m feeling frustrated, because “Hot Pursuit” had a chance to be a decent comedy. Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara are both funny women, and they are trying very hard in this film to make the most out of the material but it just isn’t working. They don’t have too much chemistry together, and their scenes often devolve into loud hyperactive messes; it feels like the director (Anne Fletcher of 2012’s “Guilt Trip”) let them do whatever they felt like on the screen without taking the necessary step of crafting their impulses. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had done so though, because the script (by the minds who brought you “Aquamarine” and several episodes of “The World According to Jim”) is a confused mish-mosh of cop movie clichés and groan-worthy romantic comedy tropes. The creative team comes from an established pedigree of unfunny, and they take what should have been a sure thing (I found the idea of Witherspoon and Vergara on the run from the law together to be pretty exciting) and turn it into a tone-deaf dud. One scene in particular, where the two women attempt to distract an angry redneck played by Jim Gaffigan by pretending to make out, is so painfully awkward and clumsy that I had to forcefully resist walking out of the theatre.
It’s rare for a comedy this bad to exist; “RV” starring Robin Williams is coming into my mind as a point of comparison. Both films star an award-winning actor who was probably hired to hide a poor script and aimless plotting, both films rely on cheap gags and contrived set-ups, and both make me question how the whole pitch system works in the first place. How does a film like this get made? How are so many other films passed over in favor of something that turns out to be such a train wreck? Could anyone have saved it? Was there any hope at all?
And then I have to take a deep breath and move on. It won’t take me long to forget “Hot Pursuit”, but it also won’t take long for that old set of questions to be raised again.
DRINK:
Tequila. Lots of it.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink whenever someone talks about "Coopering" something. Stealing a gag from "Community" does not reflect well on you, movie.
-Drink when someone says something in Spanish.
-Drink when the conversation turns to Daniella's shoes.
-Drink when Daniella insults Cooper's lack of femininity. THAT'S a fun gag!
-Drink when something bad happens to a car or a bus or a truck.
This review was written by Hollis Beck (Krissy Pappau). "Hot Pursuit" was produced by MGM and Newline Cinema, and distributed by Warner Bros. This film is rated "PG-13" with a runtime of 87 minutes.
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