Hot Pursuit (2015 film)

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 incidents such as overreacting when 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 Hispanic 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 handcuff 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. The ladies 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 the very stoned Cooper gets them to change their clothing. When the pair of Hispanic 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 grab a pickup and drive away.

The ladies continue bonding, with Cooper admitting that her by-the-books nature has made it difficult to find a man. They are surprised to find a man 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.

The ladies escape on a tour bus, followed by both pairs of assassins. The ladies use 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 hispanic 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, when Cortez draws a gun and 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 along with her.

Cast

Production

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.

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 152 reviews and an average rating of 3.2/10. The site's 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.