The Bounty Hunter
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler in The Bounty Hunter
Also In The News
|
By Lewis Bazley. |  |
Tuesday, 16, Mar 2010 04:36
By Lewis Bazley.
Directed by Andy Tennant, out March 17th in cinemas, starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Christine Baranski, Jason Sudeikis, running time 110 mins.
What's it all about?
Former cop and eponymous bounty hunter Milo Boyd (Butler) gets the best assignment of his career when he's tasked with tracking down his reporter ex-wife Nicole (Aniston) after she skips a court date. But as Nicole refuses to give up on a possible story lead, the pair find themselves in a fight for their lives as they realise why they fell for each other in the first place.
As an example...
"You have every right to hate your life. I mean, who wouldn't after some of the choices you've made." - Nicole's mother
What the others say
"It's slim pickings for discerning movie lovers and is never smart enough, sexy enough or funny enough to be memorable." - Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile
"The Bounty Hunter has enough giggles to save it from disaster, but nothing to make you roll in the aisles, and a few gun shots in the predictable finale only barely accounts for the 'action' in this action-comedy." - Entertainmentwise
So is it any good?
You'll start to shift in your seat after around five minutes of this so-called action comedy when you realise you've neither laughed nor been remotely thrilled during a ludicrous opening set piece that sees Butler's boorish Milo chasing down a target during a Fourth of July parade. Those initial misgivings will prove crushingly correct as 110 minutes that feel like years play out without a redeeming feature. Director Tennant has decided to ignore the critical mauling handed to two of his previous outings - Fools' Gold and Sweet Home Alabama - by loading the script with reprisals of the affection-disguised-as-loathing fashion of juvenile bickering we've seen in a thousand different romantic comedies. While Aniston's a capable comedienne on her day, her bitchy and self-obsessed character is as dislikeable as Butler's poorly-acted oaf while the distraction of some wildly uneven supporting performances is worsened by a score seemingly based on the Shaft soundtrack. There's not a pleasant character in the entire film and logic is tossed swiftly off the roof as Butler's well-built bounty hunter chases down a slight woman, waves a gun around menacingly before tossing her into the boot of his car. Tennant and screenwriter Sarah Thorp might claim there's a 'road movie' feel to the duo's race around the eastern seaboard but many of the location shifts do little more than exacerbate the feeling that the screenplay was written by pulling names and places out of a ball pool.
Aniston - who, to give one note of praise, is at her sexiest in years - remarks at one point: "This whole situation - I don't know whether to laugh or cry." To retort, no-one will be moved to the first reaction and if there are tears, they'll be out of frustration at enduring a laboriously paced and dull comedy without any humour.
2/10