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Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Hot Pursuit

HOT PURSUIT (Anne Fletcher). 87 minutes. Opens Friday (May 8). See listings. Rating: NN 

Where to watch: iTunes


Last year Reese Witherspoon graduated to Hollywood powerhouse, infiltrating the boys’ club by producing both Gone Girl and Wild, handing in an Oscar-nominated performance in the latter, while also delivering strong supporting turns in The Good Lie and the magnificent Inherent Vice. This year she’s proving she can make crap like Adam Sandler, too.

She produces and stars in this lazy, meandering, lowbrow comedy, leaning on gags about her flat ass and co-star Sofia Vergara’s massive boobs. Such impotent humour is a real letdown considering the female talent in front of and behind the camera. Step Up director Anne Fletcher and Witherspoon are a rare estrogen-fuelled duo to find behind a studio movie.

Vergara’s Daniella, a high-strung drug cartel witness, and Witherspoon’s Cooper, an uptight evidence officer, are on the run from gunmen and corrupt cops. Cooper issues chirpy commands while Daniella responds with operatic moaning. Their shtick is mostly tiresome but occasionally gets a laugh because the two have spunk and endless energy.

They fully commit to a half-assed script that tries to crack the formula that made Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy’s The Heat a hit instead of coming up with its own. Remember that gag about Bullock’s uptight detective wearing Spanx? Well, Witherspoon’s wears granny panties. Cue laughter.

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