Columbia PicturesReview in a Hurry: Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston have a lot going for them. So why do they both keep doing such mediocre movies or, even worse, flicks as confused and joyless as The Bounty Hunter?
The Bigger Picture: Milo (Butler) and Nicole (Aniston) are ex-spouses still licking their wounds. Since the split, Milo got himself booted off the police force and works as a bounty hunter. She's become a hotshot reporter.
When she ditches a hearing for a minor offense and he's assigned to grab her for jumping bail, calamity and hilarity ensue! No, not really. Somewhere in development, like Milo and Nicole's union, this script took a wrong turn.
Maybe it's the marketing that's misleading. The Bounty Hunter is being sold as a comedy, yet the first 15 minutes are devoid of laughs. Not a peep, twitter or chortle. And it doesn't get much better after that—despite several attempts at jokes and the stars' tremendous efforts to pull funny faces, the script fails miserably to entertain; most of the dialogue is tiresome bickering between our two leads.
The whole affair is very straight-to-DVD. Just think, a quality film could have taken up the precious real estate sucked up by this movie.
The plot actually isn't so bad—it had potential, at least. Nicole's investigation into a suspicious suicide starts to catch up with her, and she and Milo start to poke around while constantly dodging danger.
Unfortunately, it feels like this juicy plot twist comes a good hour and 15 boring minutes into the picture—too little, waaaay too late. What could have been a down-and-dirty Nick-and-Nora road movie is just another flick that should have shipped straight to the video store.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Once said plot gets going, things move a little more quickly, blessedly so. The actors get a shot of energy, as does the direction. At least the filmmakers saved the best for last.
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