Review: The Bounty Hunter

PLOT: A down on his luck bounty hunter named Milo (Gerard Butler)learns that his next assignment is his ex-wife Nicole (Jennifer Aniston), a reporter who’s skipped bail to investigate an important lead on a murder she’s been investigating. Soon, the newly reunited pair are on the run from a dirty cop involved in Nicole’s story, and loan sharks after Milo for his gambling debts. Much boredom and very few laughs ensue…

REVIEW: Ugh. THE BOUNTY HUNTER is even worse than the unbelievably shitty trailers make it out to be. This is just a painfully unfunny “comedy”, with the only amusing thing about it being that someone actually thought Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston had enough chemistry to make a compelling big screen couple.

I have no real problem with either actors, but this is just the most uninspired, lazy film either could have possibly chosen to make. I hope they got paid a lot of money to make this embarrassingly bad film. While I would have expected a film like this from Aniston, who hasn’t done a truly good film since THE GOOD GIRL, back in 2002, Butler’s involvement in this really had me scratching my head. I mean, what exactly is the guy’s deal? Judging by his excellent work in 300, and the recent LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, he’s a talented actor, but between this, and the similarly awful THE UGLY TRUTH, he couldn’t do a better job torpedoing his credibility if he tried. A couple more films like this, and he’s going to turn himself into a joke, and he needs to step up and stop being a pay check guy if he wants to have a lasting career. His work here is like something out of a bad, late-era Burt Reynolds flick (post-CANNONBALL RUN), and it must be said, Butler is not a natural when it comes to comedy. He’s simply too burly, and he-man’ish for these roles, which should ideally to someone like Hugh Grant.

As for Aniston, I must admit, I have a soft spot for the lady. I grew up with a massive crush on her due to FRIENDS, and films like THE GOOD GIRL proved that she’s one hell of a capable actress. However, these rom-com’s she’s been doing lately are dreadful. While she’s certainly easier to watch than Katherine Heigl, I’m getting sick of seeing her play the same role (which is basically Rachel from FRIENDS) over and over again. That said, she looks like a million bucks, and the film is filled with low-angle cleavage shots showing off her amazingly toned bod.

This really is an awful film. Everything about it is bad, from the hackneyed, predictable script (anyone wanna bet that the ex’s will end up back in each other’s arms by fade out) to the pedestrian direction by Andy Tennant, who also churned out the similarly awful FOOL’S GOLD. If the writing had been a bit sharper, and the leads has better chemistry, this could have been a fun, MIDNIGHT RUN-style comedy, but this is just candy coated crap. Only see this if you’re a glutton for punishment, or have an exceptionally cruel significant other who loves dragging you to this type of thing. While the marketplace is admittedly lean for date movies, you can still do a lot better than this.

RATING: 2/10