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Starring |
Jennifer Aniston
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Gerard Butler
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Christine Baranski
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Peter Greene
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Jason Sudeikis
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Directed By |
Andy Tennant
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Running Time |
110 mins
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UK Release Date |
March 17, 2010
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Genre |
Action, Thriller, Comedy, Romance
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Our Rating |
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User Rating |
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THE MOVIE WE WANTED... Image courtesy of THD, (via /Film) |
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THE MOVIE WE GOT |
And that's about all I need to say, really.
However, I suppose I ought to give you a bit more info. The basic premise of this limp romantic comedy/crime caper is one of those Hollywood contrivances, where even though none of it would ever happen in real life, you can pretty much guess every scene in the film without actually watching it. On this level of predictability, The Bounty Hunter doesn’t disappoint.
A down on his luck bounty hunter (Butler) is thrilled to get a job tracking down his bail-jumping ex-wife (Aniston), who’s decided that her job as a reporter investigating a possible crime is more important than going to court to answer semi-bogus charges of assaulting a police officer. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that getting hold of his ex is more difficult than he first thought, especially when they get caught up in the cover-up of a murder and the bad guys come after them. At which point the odd couple are forced to team up, despite their hatred of one another. Oh, the hilarity.
The filmmakers seem to think the plot is madcap and fun, but actually it’s just irritating, largely because the script is painfully unfunny with ‘jokes’ that are either ancient or so contrived that any possible humour is dried up long before the punchline. Other time the ‘humour’ is played so broadly that the Chuckle Brothers would find it OTT.
The one-upmanship between the ex-husband and wife also has an unpleasantly nasty edge to it, dipping too far into vindictiveness. It’s a particularly stupid strategy as when they inevitably start warming to each other in truly clichéd fashion, it comes across as utterly false. Oddly though, their relationship is more believable when they hate each other than when they charge their minds.
The Bounty Hunter is merely a series of stock romantic comedy and crime capers scenes which waste any potential comic possibilities until the film becomes more of an endurance test to get to the end than a piece of entertainment.
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler do their best, and they possess enough chemistry that it’s clear that with a better script and director they could make a great team, but all their efforts are for nothing. It is essentially an adult cartoon, filled with the sort of comedy that wouldn’t be funny in a TV sketch show.
Overall Verdict: Even a clichéd comedy can work if it’s funny, but The Bounty Hunter is an awkard mash-up of rom-com and crime caper that lacks the wit to be anything other than incredibly boring.
Reviewer: Phil Caine
