Hot Pursuit (2015) (3½ Stars)

How many films do they make in America every year? A few years ago I was told it was 550. It's not just the blockbusters that we see in the cinemas around the world. There are a lot of smaller films which only have limited releases or even go straight to video. What I'm getting at is that Hollywood is running out of names for films. They have to be recycled. On Sunday I watched "The Gift", which shared its name with a film made in 2000. Today I watched "Hot Pursuit", which is also the name of a 1987 film that starred John Cusack. It's difficult enough keeping track of remakes without unrelated films sharing names. It looks like my local cinema has made an attempt to solve the problem by shortening the name to "Hot P". Thank you, Cineworld.

The film is about a young policewoman called Rose Cooper (Reese Witherspoon) who lives for her job. If anything she's over-motivated, following the letter of the law rather than using her common sense. After an incident in which she accidentally set the mayor's son on fire while trying to arrest him she's been assigned to the evidence room to keep her out of trouble.

Rose is put back on active duty to escort a woman to trial who intends to testify against a drug lord. This isn't so easy. They are attacked by gang members and corrupt policemen and have to go on the run.

Despite receiving bad reviews I found the film hilarious. Reese Witherspoon is a natural comedienne. It's a refreshing change of pace to the dark atmosphere of "Fantastic Four" which I watched yesterday.