The Bounty Hunter

The beautiful and fun looking/loving Aniston; the good looking and quirky sometimes funny, sometimes deadly frightful Scot, Gerard Butler. Can't go wrong, can ya? WRONG!!!! How incredibly bad can a movie get when the trailer looks better than half funny? Find out and go see this idiotic romp to disaster. While Aniston and Butler are not at fault, I could not help but feeling totally disappointed by the inept writing and directing presented in another movie that should not have been let out of the production stage in such poor condition. I have nothing to say in praise. But this was a lesson. Before I go see another comedy, I will check IMDb to see if anyone has any connection to SNL. At that point, I will avoid that movie. Seriously, while this review does little to critique, I will give direction. This movie should go to hell along with anyone involved with the creative(or destructive) process. Too bad there is no zero for rating movies. Gets a 1 for Aniston and Butler out of pity and I hope they can find a production team who cares about their product, because Aniston and Butler do show some potential for being a team.

This is by the far the worst comedy I've seen in a while. SO BORING!! Jennifer Aniston for some reason is a horrible actor now and the script is just terrible. I fell asleep the first time and then gave it another shot and made it through the movie only after reminding myself I spent 10 bucks on it! I honestly don't know why people would even consider rating this movie higher than 4. I anticipate this movie will be out on DVD within the next couple of weeks considering how mind numbingly awful it is. To everyone out there; save your ten bucks and wait to rent it from a red box if you really must watch it.

There was potential here - somewhere. Admittedly, you have to dig pretty deep to find it, but it was here. The story of a bounty hunter hired to bring his ex-wife to justice after she skips bail while facing a ridiculous charge - something funny could have been done with that. Unfortunately, nothing very funny ended up being done with it. Then that whole story is enmeshed with a "dramatic" element. Nicole (who skipped bail) is a journalist trying to get to the bottom of a story about a suicide she suspects was a murder. Again - potential, but totally wasted. This movie really needed to decide whether it wanted to be a comedy or a suspense thriller, because by trying to do both it succeeded at neither. Casting was something of a problem here. Hollywood continues to find vehicles - and a lot of them - for both Jennifer Aniston (Nicole) and Gerard Butler (her bounty hunting ex). The problem is that (as far as I'm concerned) they're both B-list actors - and they're B-list actors for a reason. They're not especially convincing. Teamed with someone with screen presence, they can carry the roles they get. Teamed with each other the result was less than impressive. In fact, the funniest scene in the movie probably involved neither of them - it was the scene when the generally irritating (and totally unnecessary) character of Stewart was drugged with the horse tranquilizer. When a minor and unnecessary character has the best scene, you know there's a problem.

The only reason this horrible film did not get a rating of R is because they did not use the F word. And there are no overt sex scenes. But every other element of a morally repugnant film was present. The majority of characters are thugs (crooked cops, drug dealers, unethical bail bondsmen, snitches for their own benefit, sleazy reporters, slutty performers, hit men, etc.) employing disgusting language nonetheless and the venues bespeak the very dregs of society. The whole thing is offensive and I'm surprised Anniston agreed to be in it. The only interesting part is the mystery, which is why I stayed till the end, and that was not effectively revealed. All in all, a waste of time and money.

Remember when Hollywood couples who were actually together in real life made decent films (i.e. Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis - whoops, omit that last one)? Now we get couples who are together for a few months but manage to get a movie in, most of which last longer than the relationship (i.e. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Gardner, Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, etc., etc., etc.). And currently, we get Jennifer Aniston with her latest, Gerard Butler ("Phantom of the Opera," "Nim's Island," "300"), in what is basically nothing more than a remake of a bad episode (okay, EVERY episode) of "Dog, The Bounty Hunter" mixed with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith (starring another real-life couple) and "Midnight Run," the classic comedy from 1988 with Charles Grodin and Robert DeNiro. If this film were a) slightly interesting, b) somewhat novel and/or c) remotely funny, then I might have enjoyed it - a tad. Since it did not fulfill even one of the above specifications, however, I have to trudge into my office and write yet another negative review for a Jennifer Aniston picture - it isn't something I necessarily enjoy, either. And, if these two are really romantically linked, then judging by their chemistry on screen, I'd get into counseling posthaste. Here, Aniston plays reporter Nicole Hurley (not for one second did I believe she came anywhere NEAR that profession, by the way), who is working a story about murder, crooked cops and stolen drugs. She fails to appear in court as ordered. She's arrested for assault on a New York City police officer, but skips bail, causing a plot convenience device the size of the planet Pluto to be put into action. That device is having her down-on-his-luck ex husband (a former cop, now a bounty hunter, hence the title), Milo Boyd (Butler), go after her. He tracks her down and while on his way to deliver her (he's a gambler, so he takes the scenic route back to NYC, through Atlantic City), goons try to kill both of them. Now on the lam, the couple bickers, fights, argues and comes as close to sexual tension as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt might have at one time in history. They escape, but both are marked by various hoods for death. This frightful prospect does not keep the two from engaging in silly sexual high-jinx and stilted wordplay that would embarrass a 14-year-old on his first date. Every situation in this movie has been tried (and usually fallen flat) dozens of times. I always try to find a few good things to say about any production (only because I know a little bit about the blood, sweat and tears it takes to bring something - ANYTHING - to the screen) and, except for a few minor characters who appear and then quickly exit, there is absolutely nothing noteworthy about "The Bounty Hunter." I even tried to give some kudos to director Andy Tennant, who was responsible for the quirky "Ever After" and the semi-sweet "Hitch." But, then again, I realized he also directed "Sweet Home Alabama," "Fool's Gold" and now this. I therefore can no longer come up with anything positive to write about Mr. Tennant. Plus, if 2009 set the lofty standard as the single worst year for comedies in motion picture history, then 2010, already featuring "Our Family Wedding," "Cop Out" and this bowl of slop, may just - as unbelievable as it may seem - lower that bar even further. This wasn't a movie where the trailer exhibited ALL of the good lines, this was a film where the trailer itself exhibited NO good lines. The only reason I even saw this turkey was because I HAD to. Those readers who have NO such obligation, please - for the love of all that is holy - avoid this like the plague, or at least like "Love Happens."