Hot Pursuit

Reese Witherspoon stars as an uptight police officer tasked with escorting a drug dealer's wife (Sofia Vergara) across Texas in a by-the-numbers buddy chase comedy. Along the way they have to avoid corrupt cops and criminals which prompts gunfire and car chases, but mostly there's a lot of bickering as Witherspoon and Vergara insult each other for nearly 90 minutes. Everything in the film is moved aside in favour of the pair's slapstick set pieces, which become tiresome from very early on (including some rather uncomfortable racial stereotype humour). Director Anne Fletcher (The Guilt Trip) leans heavily on the likeable nature of its stars, and to their credit, Witherspoon's prim officer clashes well with Vergara doing her usual loudmouthed act. This can't support a whole film, however, and after the first few exchanges things go downhill very rapidly. Two very capable leads deserved more than this ill-conceived romp across the Lone Star State. Unfolding in very obvious and uninspired ways, Hot Pursuit would be offensive if it weren't so lazy.