14 DAY TRIAL // The latest romantic comedy, with some claims to the action genre as well, to arrive in theaters in many territories is “The Bounty Hunter,” starring two very promising names in terms of funny potential, Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, under the direction of Andy Tennant who gave the public, a few years back, Will Smith’s “Hitch.” To point out the obvious, the premise for this to be a fun two hours exists. If you also factor in that this is a film about two exes thrown in a potentially dangerous situation, with handcuffs and solid headboards to use them on, a good laughter is alleged to ensue. Unfortunately, the film drags on and is more like a hot air balloon that can’t quite get off the ground, critics agree.
Gerard Butler, whom we’ve seen in various blockbusters pertaining to different genres, from musical dramas (“The Phantom of the Opera”) to action films (“300,” “Law Abiding Citizen”) and other rom-coms (“The Ugly Truth”) is Milo Boyd. He’s a former NYC cop who, after his divorce, got fired off the force and got into bounty hunting to make sure he affords to pay back the massive debt he’s accumulated by gambling. Jennifer Aniston is Nicole Hurley, a careerist journalist for the Daily News, which is pretty obvious from her business-like yet trendy attire: impossibly tight pencil skirt, impossibly tight top, impossibly high heels, complete with impeccable tan and hair.
From the very beginning, the movie doesn’t even make the slightest effort to keep audiences guessing: the two are ex husband and wife, and his job is to track her down and then bring her to justice. Nicole skipped bail, but not because she’s a serious offender – after all, this is supposed to be a comedy, so the crime she’s accused of is minor, more of a misunderstanding, actually. She’s hot on a story about a suspicious suicide that might connect a few dots and lead to uncovering dirty cops. Because she’s asking around too many questions, she upsets some gangsters who, of course, set out to have her keep her mouth shut, one way or the other.
On the other hand, Milo too brings his share of baggage into all this, in the form of the bookies who are looking for him for a $11,000 debt. He agrees to bring his ex-wife to jail (which also provides him with the perfect opportunity to throw her toothbrush in the toilet, erase her TiVo queue, eat chips on her bed and use her pillow as napkin), and that sends him all the way to Atlantic City in his vintage convertible. Predictably enough, there will be gunshots on the way, gambling, a night’s stay at a hotel and then another one at some love nest they visited once before, in a more pleasant circumstance, lots of running (in high heels or not) and plenty of talks about a love story that could have been, but for whose demise we don’t know who is responsible.
For the first half, “The Bounty Hunter” plays out well despite the cringing clichés all gathered in one place. Butler’s rugged charm, which also includes him eating with relish and making his point with women by simply throwing them over the shoulder and carrying them off, is perfectly juxtaposed with Aniston’s cute irritability. There’s no doubt they make a lovely pair, where she’s always beating her small hand on his robust chest, while also looking incredibly hot. Unfortunately, halfway through the film, it becomes painfully obvious that the viewer is not given even the smallest clue as to why they should be together in the first place. Granted, there is some chemistry to their relationship, but it isn’t nearly enough to make this romantic story take flight. By the end of the film, said story succumbs to predictability and the most painful of clichés, which begs the question of why a movie studio that can afford such amazing and highly rated actors would not give them better material to work with.
While the two main characters are barely sketched, some of the supporting ones actually manage to shine: Christine Baranski as Nicole’s mom Kitty, Siobhan Fallon as Theresa and SNL’s Jason Sudeikis as the delusional Stewart act as much welcomed comic relief for a film that could have easily stood ground on its own. As the critics put it, “The Bounty Hunter” is a film that only gossip aficionados can love, though it does make for a rather enjoyable way to pass the time, when there’s nothing better to do.
Rated PG-13, “The Bounty Hunter” runs for 110 minutes. It opened in select theaters in the US on March 19, will arrive in Germany on April 1, and will premiere last in Japan on July 10.
