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In 2013, Sandra Bullock teamed up with Melissa McCarthy for Paul Feig’s girl-cop comedy, The Heat—which was basically an ‘80s cop comedy with female stars shoehorned into male roles. So, for Hot Pursuit, director Anne Fletcher gives her girl-cop comedy a more feminine touch—but she does so in the most unflattering ways possible.
Hot Pursuit stars Reese Witherspoon as Officer Rose Cooper, a by-the-book cop who spent her childhood in her dad’s squad car, only to end up stuck behind a desk in the evidence room. Finally, though, Cooper gets her chance to prove herself when she’s asked to assist in transporting a drug dealer and his wife to Dallas, where they’re scheduled to testify against his boss before entering Witness Protection. Of course, the pickup doesn’t go as smoothly as planned—and Cooper and the dealer’s wife (Sofía Vergara) end up on the run from both criminals and crooked cops.
Hot Pursuit is the kind of movie that, had it been written and directed solely by men, would have had women shaking their heads and chuckling about how men don’t know a thing about women. Sadly, though, it was directed by a woman who probably should have been horrified by her own film. The female characters are painful stereotypes: the serious cop who can’t get a man (until she puts on a low-cut dress, that is) and the hot-headed Latina who’s obsessed with shoes. Poor Cooper may have spent her life training to be a cop, but she’s overzealous and socially-awkward—and she’s somehow so inept at her job that she’s a joke in her precinct. And Mrs. Riva refuses to leave the house without her beauty queen tiara.
Together, the two are a bumbling, screaming, hot girly mess. Whenever they get into a jam, they either flash some cleavage or rant about feminine problems until they manage to get away. If things work in their favor, it’s generally in spite of their bumbling. And though they eventually prove themselves to be more than just their stereotypes, it’s supposed to be a big surprise that these women might actually be competent.
Beyond the bad stereotypes, then, Hot Pursuit is mostly just a lot of shrieking, a couple of girl fights, and some silly slapstick comedy. The story is formulaic and predictable, and the gags are repetitive—despite the fact that they aren’t especially funny the first time around. And, in the end, it feels significantly longer than its 87-minute runtime would suggest.
If you’re expecting a comedy directed by a woman to be smarter and less stereotypical than the average chick flick, you’ll be disappointed by this embarrassing mess of clichés. Sadly, the best part of the film is the blooper reel that runs during the credits.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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