It seems reasonable to expect a romantic comedy to provide either romance or comedy, and preferably both at the same time. But director Andy Tennant's jaundiced and charmless "The Bounty Hunter" is a paragon of rom−com, minus both the "rom" and the "com" — and the resulting picture is not pretty.
Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler) is a boyish cop−turned−bounty hunter who has plunged into a loveless, booze−laden rut since his divorce from journalist Nicole Hurley (Jennifer Aniston). His luck takes a turn for the better when he receives the assignment of a lifetime: to chuck his bail−jumping ex−wife behind bars. Euphoric at this shot at paid vengeance, Milo is already gunning his car down the highway before he pauses to consider the emotional ramifications of his doomed mission.
While Milo is hot on Nicole's trail, the unlikely lawbreaker is hot on the trail of a more serious case. Suspecting a recorded suicide to actually be a homicide, Nicole becomes obsessed with dissembling the story. When Milo finally catches up to her, the former lovers spit and spar like cat and mouse, all the while entangling themselves even deeper in the murder mystery unsheathed by Nicole's relentless investigation.
As evidenced by "The Ugly Truth" (2009), Butler's gruff machismo can bring a certain youthful charm to the silver screen when offset by the right female lead. Sadly, Aniston is not that costar. In this film, she plays the only role she seems to know how to play: a condescending and blundering fashionista who takes herself way too seriously. In fact, she, like her audience, barely cracks a smile throughout the film's excruciating 110−minute run.
Aniston's drollness aligns well enough with the campy, wry script, yet her lack of versatility or spontaneity slaughters any flailing chance she and the equally static Butler had at feigning onscreen chemistry. The couple simply makes no sense. Their uncomfortable flatness dooms them and the film to the fiery realms of cinematic purgatory, although perhaps purgatory is too strong a word. At least purgatory sounds like it might be interesting.
Supposing Butler and Aniston had managed to ignite anything vaguely resembling a romantic spark, they still would have only satisfied the romantic component of this so−called romantic comedy. Even a generous critic must concede that the film is hideously unfunny. Part of the blame lies in its script, which effectively demonstrates why fast−paced, witty newsroom dialect is best kept in the newsroom.
Still worse is Nicole's pastel−bedecked and stalkerish coworker Stewart (Jason Sudeikis of "Saturday Night Live" fame). His awkward infatuation for Nicole combined with his mama's boy brand of creepiness seems the stuff of comic genius, and yet Sudeikis' weirdly infantile performance makes viewers convulse in disgust rather than laughter.
The generally talented Sudeikis' failure to bring humor to this atrocity of a film is one of many indications of how "The Bounty Hunter" might have been amusing, or at least salvageable, had it not seemed so contrived. Perhaps because Aniston and Butler don't try hard enough, every other actor tries way too hard in an effort to compensate for their lackluster costars. The result is a disappointing, off−kilter film that smacks of cumbersome strain and undiscovered potential.
The soundtrack is by far the best part of the movie, especially because a consumer may obtain it without actually having to desecrate his or her eyes or ears with this flick gone awry. The soundtrack is high−energy with an impressive range, spanning from Frank Sinatra to Run DMC. Songs like Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" (1973) and Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" (2009) pop up at ironic points in the film, teasing the otherwise hapless theatergoers into genuine, if brief, entertainment.
However, those fleeting moments of auditory delight are not nearly enough to justify wasting $10 on this insult to cinema. By all means, feel free to purchase the soundtrack, though — and do purchase it instead of downloading it, because a film this poor needs every penny it can get.
