The Bounty Hunter Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 03.23.2010

It's not Out of Sight, but the similarities hurt it just the same

Directed by Andy Tennant
Written by Sarah Thorp
Cinematography by Oliver Bokelberg
Music Composed by George Fenton

Cast
Jennifer Aniston ... Nicole Hurley
Gerard Butler ... Milo Boyd
Gio Perez ... Uncle Sam
Joel Marsh Garland ... Dwight
Jason Kolotouros ... Gelman
Matt Malloy ... Gary
Jason Sudeikis ... Stewart
Adam Rose ... Jimmy
Christine Baranski ... Kitty Hurley
Dorian Missick ... Bobby
Peter Greene ... Mahler
Jeff Garlin ... Sid
Carol Kane ... Dawn
Adam LeFevre ... Edmund

Runtime: 110 min
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sexual content including suggestive comments, language and some violence.
Official Website




When The Bounty Hunter begins, Nicole is locked in the trunk of Milo’s car and lights a flare stick. He opens the trunk and she responds by punching him in the balls and running for freedom. He gives chase and tackles her to the ground, leading to the extended flashback of how they got to this point. I am sure I am not the only person to have flashbacks to the Steven Soderbergh movie Out of Sight. Both movies are about officers trying to arrest an escaped fugitive and at one point finding action taking place in the trunk of a car.

That is a bad start to this movie because The Bounty Hunter never comes close to the level of that excellent 1998 film. It is also unfortunate, because hiding inside this film is a charming little movie with positive qualities of its own.

This is nowhere near as cool as Out of Sight, but it lives more in the world of screwball comedies of the Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn era. The lead characters are a divorced couple who were only together for 15 months, married after six, divorced after nine. Milo (Gerard Butler) was at one time a police officer and now works as a bounty hunter. Nicole (Jennifer Aniston) is a news reporter, investigating the biggest lead of her career. After an accident, Nicole finds herself standing trial for assaulting an officer. When she misses her court date chasing a lead, a bench warrant is issued and Milo is more than happy to be the man to cash it in.

The acting is what saves this movie and the leads have a chemistry that pops when they are onscreen together. Sure, they don’t possess the cool factor of a George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez but they are better than Matthey McConaughey and Kate Hudson, the stars of director Andy Tennant’s last film, Fool’s Gold. They are a great odd couple who are quick with the insult but always allow the sex appeal to sizzle under the surface.

They are also surrounded by a solid supporting cast, most of which are played for comedy led by the duo of low rent bumbling mob hit-man chasing Milo to collect a gambling debt. The couple who owns the Bed and Breakfast where Milo and Nicole spent their honeymoon is played with brilliance by Carol Kane (Scrooged) and Adam LeFevre (Hitch). Finally, Nicole’s showgirl mother is played with hilarious pomp and circumstance by Christine Baranski.

The problems with the movie lie squarely on the shoulders of the director. After the first scene in the car, the movie cuts to a quick paced scene of Milo chasing a suspect and getting arrested himself. From that arrest until the point where the two leads meet up at a racetrack, the movie stumbles forward, with little rhyme or reason. After about fifteen minutes, I thought this might end up ranking as one of the worst movies of the year. Luckily, when Milo finally captures Nicole, the film picks up thanks in large part to the actors’ chemistry.

The shots are edited together strangely, and the scenes seem to transition with no real flow. The movie never drags but it seems to be more of a group of incidents edited together than a cohesive story. The subplot of the gambling debt is never paid off with more than a comic conclusion in a strip club. It appears added just to increase tension when the bad guys are trying to kill Nicole, which should have been dangerous enough on its own. This is the first time I have mentioned that part of the plot because it is given little significance in the story. Even the main antagonists are used to set the two leads into compromising situations with each other.

I also have to question one major plot hole. Milo used to be a police officer. He worked on the force with his best friend Bobby and, at one point, calls another officer and gets information thanks to their past relationship. However, no other police officer he encounters seems to have any idea who he is. He also has no idea who the bad guy is, even though he used to be a cop as well and worked with Bobby. That still makes no sense to me.

The climax is also a little too neat and tied up for my taste as well. Everything seems to be wrapped up with a nice little bow, making the entire movie experience seem weak. The movie had the opportunity to be a great caper flick with two attractive leads. What it ended up being was a nice little flick to go see with your girl on a rainy day. It is a date movie with great acting but little else under the hood.

The 411: The Bounty Hunter contains some solid acting but is more of a screwball comedy than I expected. Everything is played for laughs and there are never any real dangers to worry the viewers. The most interesting parts are the romantic pratfalls Milo and Nicole find themselves in and everything around them is there to set these scenes. In the hands of a better director, this could have been a modern day Out of Sight. As it is, it’s just an average rom-com.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]