Hot Pursuit - Sofia Vergara & Reese Witherspoo

Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara aim to strike Midnight Run-style sparks as a mismatched duo on the run from ruthless criminals and crooked cops in comedy thriller Hot Pursuit, but the misfiring movie fails to ignite.

The pair’s contrasting physical attributes and personalities does actually have comic potential. Witherspoon is short and strait-laced as the rookie police officer who does everything by the book, and Vergara is voluptuous and fiery as the pampered trophy wife of a drug cartel lieutenant due to testify against his gang. One, naturally, is blandly white bread while the other is exaggeratedly Hispanic.

But after Witherspoon’s routine job of escorting Vergara to court goes violently awry, forcing the couple to flee across Texas, the screenplay fails to make the most of their bickering rapport. It’s a great shame, as Witherspoon and Vergara do have chemistry together, but a lack of decent gags means this buddy comedy vehicle is running on empty.

Certificate 12A. Runtime 87 mins. Director Anne Fletcher. http://youtube.com/v/fUeOBdxSjc8

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.