The Bounty Hunter (2010)

FAIL

ACTION/ROMANCE/COMEDY
U.S. Release Date: 03/19/10
Running Length: 110 Minutes
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Jason Sudeikis, Adam Rose, Christine Baranski, Dorian Missick, Peter Greene
Director: Andy Tennant
Screenplay: Sarah Thorp
Cinematography: Oliver Bokelberg
Music: George Fenton
U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Review by: Carter Moulton

03/21/10

No one involved in creating The Bounty Hunter cares about The Bounty Hunter. Dialogue was sloppily scribbled on crumpled notebook paper by Sarah Thorp only to be spoken with a droopy, lethargic tone from the actors involved, Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston. Rom-com specialist Andy Tennant (Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama) directs the cast, and he doesn’t seem to care enough about the project to learn how to shoot an action scene—and I thought Kevin Smith failed in Cop Out.

Butler plays former cop and bounty hunter Milo Boyd, a rugged, chiseled meathead. Aniston pretends to be Nicole Hurley, a hardworking—and very single—journalist. To give you an idea of how creative The Bounty Hunter is, the newspaper Aniston works for is called The Daily News.

When Hurley fails to show up for her court hearing, it’s up for Boyd to find her, snatch her up, and take her to jail. Here’s the twist. Hurley and Boyd are ex-lovers—ex-husband and wife in fact. Upon hearing the news—$5,000 for simply bringing his ex-wife in—Boyd acts like a middle-schooler, pumping his fist, dancing, and yelling, “Yes, yeah baby.” It’s awful.

Photo © Columbia Pictures

There’s a lot of running, chasing, and “I hate you” banter as Boyd tracks down Hurley, a felon (but for what we don’t know until halfway through the film). Hurley’s crime isn’t a revelation; she mentions that she ran into a police horse with her car while covering a story. Her crime is an after thought, an attempt to patch up a plot hole like it was a pair of jeans from the ‘70s—and worst of all, an excuse for this movie to be made.

Bad guys are after Hurley because of a story she’s covering about a suicide—or is it? Peter Greene—the bad guy from The Mask—is, again, the main antagonist. Boyd ends up protecting, and yes, falling back in love with Hurley throughout the course of this stupid story.

Tennant, as mentioned earlier, fails with the action sequences. Bullets fly and cars vroom while corny rock music plays in the background. One scene shows Boyd chasing a golf caddy on foot through a driving range. Golf balls, cheaply computer-animated, fly past his head to the tune of “Stayin’ Alive.”

Butler acts like a little boy; Aniston’s character is a dumb blonde archetype for falling in love with someone like Boyd. There’s nothing to like, and the character’s moods shift from hatred to horniness with the snap of Tennant’s hand. If there is such thing as an awful movie, The Bounty Hunter is it.