The casting and concept are pregnant with potential: Proven comedic actresses Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara paired in a cop buddy comedy. What could go wrong?

Plenty, apparently, and I blame the sheer and utter misfire of Hot Pursuit on director Anne Fletcher and screenwriters David Feeney and John Quaintance. Couldn’t they have at least tried a little? It doesn’t matter how talented an actress may be, if she’s given dreck to work with, dreck is all you’ll get. While Hot Pursuit has a moment or two where your lips might curl upwards slightly, the rest of the time you spend wondering “when’s the funny part?”

To answer that question: never.  And it pains me to say this, because I don’t like to diss the efforts of female directors. They have it hard enough in Hollywood as it is. Fletcher did fine work directing Step Up, 27 Dresses and especially The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock. You’d think going from Sandy and Ryan (Reynolds) to Reese and Sofia would be like falling off a log. But apparently someone got lazy.

And that would certainly include the screenwriters. It’s hard to make Witherspoon annoying, but they’ve achieved it, writing her character as an uptight, by the book cop who is shrill and unlikeable. Melissa McCarthy may be able to get away with making irksome characters lovable and sympathetic, but not Witherspoon–at least not here. She is too cute to be convincingly ugly, and seems to be trying too hard to make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear of a script.

Vergara, as a Colombian drug lord wife who is supposedly on her way into witness protection, was handed every tired stereotype she’s ever played. I believe she’s capable of so much more than hoisting her cleavage, wobbling around on stilettos and speaking in Spanglish. She is, of course, sublime at that, but I just wish someone would please give the poor girl the opportunity to show us what else she can do.

Now, having said so many negative things in my Hot Pursuit review, I will say that at least it doesn’t go over the gross out cliff, as so many male buddy comedy/road trip movies do. In essence, this film could be worse, but it could also be so very much better.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 27 Minutes

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HOT PURSUIT Review