Okay gang, we’re here again. Sunday and it’s time to talk about a film. This week, as you may or may not have guessed from Wednesday’s tease, we’re talking about Hot Pursuit: a buddy comedy featuring Oscar Winning Reese Witherspoon* and the always entertaining Sofia Vergara. They play, respectively, an uptight police officer with a chip on her shoulder, and a drug-cartel-lieutenants trophy wife. Before we begin in earnest however, I would like to take this opportunity to deploy a joke:
What do you call Reese Witherspoon after she finishes her cereal?
Reese Washerspoon
I thank you.
So what did I think of this film? As I posted on Wednesday, reviews were generally pretty unfavorable, pitching it at one or two stars generally. So I was expecting a bit of a trainwreck. But in truth, this film is…. fine. It’s funny in places, and generally has a sort of breezy sensibility which carries the viewer along. The chemistry between the two leads- which a buddy film essentially lives or dies on- is present, if not shining quite so bright as might be hoped, and both leads give performances good enough to rise above the pretty poor dialogue they are given. Witherspoon is not only a strong enough actor to make her uptight, insecure and cartoonish by the book cop a sense of life, but to deliver an accent and cadence which fit the character and lends itself to the character jokes. Vergara’s role is not a complicated one, but one she takes on with enthusiasm, and its hard to imagine anyone else doing it so well. Her character is more impulsive and outspoken, and, thanks to some late-in-the-game revelations, not just the vain and self-absorbed trophy wife she initially appears to be.
The film follows the two leads as they try to get from the house lived in by Vergara and her not-long-for-this-world husband to a Witness Protection checkpoint. They race across Texas (the Mexican-American drug trade is the catalyst for the film) trying to avoid criminals and crooked cops alike with antics and hijinks of varying degrees. They dress up as a sort of pantomime deer, steal several cars, meet Jim Gaffigan and his dog and generally careen between near misses and comic misadventures.
The key problem with this film, and a big part of why I think it was lambasted by critics, is that it sticks so rigidly to the odd couple/ buddy film formula. We know from the very beginning that the two opposites will come to like each other and work together to overcome a common problem. We know that the humour will largely come from their differences, and we know that they will both teach each other Something Important. This, in of itself, isn’t that much of a problem. Films can be formulaic and still very good. But the execution of the formula is off. The transgressions that Vergara’s character commits seem forgiven too easily- Witherspoon’s character seems determined to like her against all apparent logic. And Vergara’s character’s criminality/ lack thereof is so ill-defined its very difficult to know if we are or aren’t supposed to empathise with her. The film hits all the beats of a odd couple film without really feeling like they make for the characters.
The other major thing that hampers the film is the dialogue- including some of the jokes. As I have said the film is at times genuinely funny, and the leads posses comic talent. Not all of the jokes land however, and some of those that fail do so because they rely on tired tropes and low hanging fruit. Vergara and Witherspoon have differing body types, and Witherspoon’s more slight, short figure is played upon repeatedly for cheap jokes, whilst Vergara’s more curvaceous form is played up. This results in some jokes that essentially amount to body-shaming of Witherspoon’s character and the leering sexualisation of Vergara’s. This strikes me as especially odd as I feel like this film is primarily aimed at a female audience- surely we could do better for the average female movie-goer in 2019? Maybe I’m just too uptight about this stuff, but if I wanted to see women putting each other down with cheap shots about their bodies and sexual agency, I’d watch Real Housewives.
All this being said I’d be lying if I said the film didn’t leave me with a smile on my face. It’s not truly great or all that memorable, but it features two strong performances and some unexpected fun. It’s fine! But only fine.
Oh and that ‘Texas Sized Extra’? 3 minutes long.
2 stars! **
-Tom
-PS I’ve started a rankings master-list of all the films I watch: https://onepoundoneflick.video.blog/2019/06/30/film-rankings/
*Witherspoon won for her portrayal of June Carter-Cash in Walk the Line, the film based upon Johnny Cash’s memoirs of the same name.
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