Hot Pursuit (2015 film)

Hot Pursuit is a 2015 American action comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher and written by David Feeney and John Quaintance. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Sofía Vergara, the film was released on May 8, 2015, by Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot
Rose Cooper is a San Antonio Police Department officer whose work ethic is too intense. Cooper's name has become a verb synonymous with screw-ups, following an incident in which the mayor's son yells "Shotgun!", setting him on fire by tasing him while he carried an alcoholic drink. Her ineptness in the field has her assigned to the evidence locker.

Cooper's commanding officer, Captain Emmett, gives her a secret assignment to join Deputy US Marshal Jackson, protecting Felipe Riva and his wife Daniella. Riva must go to Dallas to testify against notorious cartel leader Vicente Cortez. At the Riva home, a pair of masked assassins and a different pair of assassins kill Jackson and Felipe while Cooper and Daniella are upstairs. Daniella grabs one suitcase, containing many pairs of shoes, and the ladies flee in Riva's car. When Daniella later tries to run off, Cooper handcuffs herself to her.

The ladies are found by Cooper's fellow officers Dixon and Hauser. When Cooper notices a tattoo that reveals the officers are one of the assassin teams, they pretend that Daniella is having her period so they can go to the bathroom. They escape and head for Dallas, where Daniella can testify against Cortez.

The ladies learn that Cooper is now labelled a fugitive, fleeing with Daniella. A truck plows into the car, spraying hidden cocaine everywhere. Cooper gets the truck driver to drop them at a clothing store, where Daniella and the very stoned Cooper change their clothing. When the pair of assassins show up, the ladies stow away in a trailer hooked to a pickup truck. When the truck stops, Cooper tries to steal it when the owner, Red, reappears with a gun. Daniella escapes, but comes back for Cooper and pretends to be her lesbian lover. She uncomfortably gropes Cooper, briefly distracting Red until he accidentally shoots off his finger. Cooper and Daniella flee, find another pickup truck, and drive away.

The ladies continue bonding, with Cooper admitting that her rigid and by-the-books nature has made it difficult to find a man. They are surprised to find a man named Randy sleeping in the back of the truck. Randy is a felon with an ankle bracelet due to viciously assaulting his sisters' abusive boyfriends. Cooper agrees to take off the bracelet in return for Randy's help. Daniella is pleased to see Randy flirting with Cooper.

Stopping at a hotel for the night, Cooper cuffs Daniella to the bedpost while she goes to Randy's room for food. She walks in on him naked and eventually succumbs to his charms and kisses him. Cooper goes back to her room to find Daniella aiming Cooper's gun at her, upset that Cooper's notes reveal her doubts that Daniella would be smart enough to properly testify. Daniella explains that her bag of shoes which were thought to be studded with fake diamonds are in fact studded with $4 million in real diamonds, revealing Cortez' money laundering method. When Dixon and Hauser appear and shoot at the ladies, Randy attacks Hauser, allowing the ladies to run.

They escape on a tour bus, followed by both pairs of assassins, using the bus to bump the dirty cops' car off the road. Daniella knocks out Cooper – when she comes to, Cooper sees Daniella working with the unnamed assassins. Cortez killed Daniella's brother, she plans to now kill him at his daughter's Quinceañera. Daniella had arranged for the thugs to simply "kidnap" her so she could get Cortez then start a life on her own. She leaves Cooper to bring in Dixon and Hauser, earning praise from Captain Emmett, who only laughs when she tells him Daniella's murder plan.

Cooper sneaks into the Quinceañera as a man to get close to Daniella. She tries to get her to wear a wire so that they can get Cortez to confess to her brother's murder, but a woman walking into the bathroom mistakes Cooper for a pervert and throws her out. She gets back into the party, running into Emmett and learning that he is working for Cortez. He pulls a gun on her, but Cooper pours alcohol on him and tases him so he catches fire.

Daniella corners Cortez and reveals her intentions to kill him. Cooper arrives and stops Daniella, but when Cortez draws a gun Cooper shoots him dead. Daniella is angry at Cooper for stealing her revenge, until she sees that Cooper took a bullet for her in the arm.

Three months later, Cooper picks Daniella up from prison after an obstruction of justice conviction. Cooper is no longer a laughingstock and is praised for taking down Cortez. Outside, she presents Daniella with her shoes. They leave together, and Daniella sees that Cooper brought Randy with her.

Cast

 * Reese Witherspoon as Officer Rose Cooper
 * Sofía Vergara as Daniella Riva
 * Matthew Del Negro as Detective Hauser
 * Michael Mosley as Detective Dixon
 * Robert Kazinsky as Randy
 * Richard T. Jones as U.S. Marshall Jackson
 * Benny Nieves as Jesus
 * Michael Ray Escamilla as Angel
 * Joaquín Cosio as Vicente Cortez
 * John Carroll Lynch as Captain Emmett
 * Jim Gaffigan as Red
 * Mike Birbiglia as Steve
 * Vincent Laresca as Felipe Riva
 * David Jensen as Wayne
 * Evaluna Montaner as Teresa Cortez

Production
The film was originally titled Don't Mess with Texas. Principal photography began on May 12, 2014 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was set to last for two months.

Marketing
The film's first trailer was released on February 12, 2015.

Release
Hot Pursuit released in theaters on May 8, 2015. It was then released on Digital Download on July 28, 2015, and the DVD and Blu-ray were released on August 11, 2015.

Box office
Hot Pursuit grossed $34.6 million in the US and Canada, and $16.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $51.5 million.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $13.9 million, finishing second at the box office behind Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was in its second week ($77.7 million).

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 7% based on 170 reviews, and an average rating of 3.16/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Shrill and unfunny, Hot Pursuit bungles what should have been an easy opportunity to showcase Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara's likable odd-couple chemistry." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". According to CinemaScore, audiences gave the film a grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.