With Reese Witherspoon and Sofía Vergara at the helm of a comedy, you would think you were in for a good time. But critics seem to be split on whether or not you should join these two stars on their wild ride. The Oscar winner proved her comedy chops in Legally Blonde while Vergara continues to make viewers laugh weekly in Modern Family.
Together, however, it might just not be enough. Here is what the reviews have to say about Hot Pursuit:
Variety's Andrew Barker said that the only way this film will thrive at the box office is if it relies on its star power. "It's a shame, because Witherspoon remains one of the more underrated comedic talents of her generation (Elle Woods and Tracy Flick would both be career highlights for most actresses), and she clearly has some fun playing up her character's mile-a-minute Texan chatter and loping cowgirl gait," he writes. "Vergara aims for many of the same heavily accented Colombo-Charo notes she hits on Modern Family, but without that series' knowing wit, her character tips into cartoonishness."
New York Times' A.O. Scott argues that your opinion on the movie will depend entirely upon how high your expectations are going into it. He admits that his were already high because of power both stars bring to the table. "But while Hot Pursuit makes much of the vocal, temperamental and physical contrasts between its stars...it doesn't give them anything especially fresh or interesting to do together," he writes. "We are in the midst of a comedy boom, and within it an explosion of feminist and woman-driven humor, but the news has apparently not reached Warner Bros. headquarters."
The Wall Street Journal's John Anderson found the movie more endearing than the others. "For many moviegoers, the prospect of Hot Pursuit will not make the blood race, though it was a likely box-office success as soon as the ads appeared," he writes. It's "about two women finding sisterly common ground despite ethnic, religious, philosophical, temperamental and/or phonetic differences. It also seems an inevitable stop on Hollywood's perpetual recycling drive, which caters to an audience perfectly content with the creaky and familiar."
Max Nicholson of IGN didn't find anything redeemable about the comedy. "This isn't saying much, but the best parts of Hot Pursuit are in the trailer. Basically, all the jokes boil down to Witherspoon being short and Vergara being...well, Colombian," he writes. "It's a sad state of affairs when these two talents are literally reduced to the sum of their parts. Worse yet, their characters have zero chemistry, and unlike most buddy comedies, their inevitable friendship doesn't feel earned. That's because they spend the entire movie bickering amongst themselves."
Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt notes that this film is like a million others you've already seen. "What's spanglish for déjà vu? There's hardly a single moment in Hot Pursuit that won't remind you of scenes you've seen at the multiplex a thousand times before," she writes. "The best part of Hot Pursuit by far comes at the end, in the blooper reel. That's where we finally get to see two smart, engaging actresses with real chemistry do naturally what they've been straining so hard to do for the past 90 minutes: Make us laugh."
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