To my surprise, the first five minutes or so of the new distaff “buddy comedy” Hot Pursuit are pretty solid.  The preview presented a comedy that looked positively painful to watch, so I was pleased when the opening sequence was actually clever and rather captivating.  But right after the opening credits stupidity sets in and it never recovers.  In fact, the film becomes so stupid as it continues that it seems to embrace its nonsensicality.  It revels in its own ridiculousness.

Anne Fletcher’s movie is a play on the so-called “buddy” comedies of the past, with a strictly by-the-book Texas policewoman (Reese Witherspoon, who deserves better, but she produced this mess, so she has to take the criticism) tasked with escorting a sexy and temperamental witness (Sofia Vergara, lots of fun to watch) to Dallas for a court date.  Vergara’s husband and Witherspoon’s partner are dispatched and the chase ensues.  And as chases go, a local tricycle race would be more exciting.

The insipid script is as stereotyped and clichéd as one would expect, and then some. It’s too tame (PG-13) to be raucously vulgar or sexy, and the two stars are simply humiliated for an hour and a half.  A couple of laughs can be found here or there but the idea of dirty cops killing people is not a comedy staple, especially after the sad events of Ferguson and Baltimore and New York and elsewhere recently.  This film is filled with bad taste, on a level that is insulting rather than playful.

Unless one has a secret urge to see Reese Witherspoon dress up like Justin Bieber, which was kind of funny, there is absolutely no reason to watch this drivel.  Anyone could make a funnier, or better, film with one-tenth, or one-twentieth, of the budget of this $35,000,000 turkey.  ☆.  29 May 2015.