There's been a long line of films about cops paired up with unusual partners, with massive gluts of them made in the 1980s. The buddy partnership at the centre of these stories is usually an odd-couple pairing, with one or the other being Type A, the other being a loose cannon who constantly threatens to derail their efforts at every turn but, of course, plays a huge part in bringing about the happy ending. And so it seems to be with Hot Pursuit, a surprising cop buddy movie from romcom specialist Anne Fletcher, in which Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara take off in a car full of cocaine, hordes of evil stunt men and bit-part players in pursuit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdLun1WXRJI We didn't get to see a lot of the action in this trailer so it might be brilliant, it might be dreadful, but Reese Witherspoon leaping sideways through the air and firing a gun is definitely something I've never seen before. And all respect to her for the outrageous Tracy Flick face she's pulling while she does it. I've got a feeling this is going to be a smash, at least as big a hit as The Heat. Having said that, there wasn't a great deal in the trailer that excited me personally, and I'm pretty sure we're not looking at the new Midnight Run here. Hot Pursuit hits both UK and US cinemas on May 8th.
Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.
