The Bounty Hunter
Posted on July 13, 2010 at 8:00 am
Jennifer Aniston is a beautiful and talented woman, but this film had me thinking some very mean thoughts about her, thoughts like, “She is too old for this kind of movie” and “Probably not a good idea to make a movie that seems like a lesser version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, best known for documenting her real-life husband falling in love with his co-star.”
If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen this movie: battling exes squabble as he (Milo the bounty hunter played by Gerard Butler) tries to take her (Nic the journalist played by Aniston) to jail while she tries to persuade him that she’s working on an important and very dangerous story. Will they get shot at? Will there be chases? Will there be a romantic interlude interrupted by a mis-communication? You don’t even have to see the trailer to have seen this movie. You already know everything that’s going to happen.
Aniston is too old for this movie. Butler looks pudgy-faced and uncomfortable. Despite rumors of an off-screen romance, there are no sparks between them and we never get any sense of what brought them together or any relationship between what we are told about their issues and any aspect of their behavior toward each other or anyone else. This is one of those films where if anyone behaved in a rational manner, the whole thing would have been over in 20 minutes.
It does have a good chase scene at the beginning and a couple of briefly interesting goons (Milo owes some gambling debts). But it lets us down repeatedly by wasting the time and talents of the fabulous Christine Baranski (as Nic’s glamorous mother), SNL’s Jason Sudeikis as Nic’s co-worker, and Carol Kane (with a new set of teeth) and Adam LeFevre as bed-and-breakfast owners. It is supposed to be heartwarming and humorous that Nic’s mother has some boundary issues when it comes to Nic’s romantic life. It’s just icky. It’s supposed to be funny that her co-worker keeps trying to persuade her to get romantic with him. It’s just icky — until he is mistaken for Milo and gets beat up by the goons, when it becomes not just icky but ooky. It’s even supposed to be funny that Nic tases Milo. Nope. This falls into that category of movie that exists to be perpetually playing on airplanes — because when the pilot interrupts to tell you to look out the window you won’t miss anything.
Hi Nell,
The merits–or lack thereof–of THE BOUNTY HUNTER are not in question. Saw it last night and it was really bad. I did wonder if you might be able to elaborate on your comments about Aniston being too old for the role. 40 when the movie was shot and looking no older than 35, what does her age have to do anyway? She plays a news reporter, an adult role that never suggests she’s in her twenties or some ingenue. Furthermore, Gerard Butler is the same age and you did not mention him being too old. I definitely know you didn’t mean for your comments to come off as sexist or agist so I just thought I’d ask if you could elaborate. See you soon!
Great question, Dustin! Butler’s part seemed to call for someone who had something of a history. But Aniston’s was what I call a cupcake role — to make it work, she had to be endearingly naive and inexperienced. Think about her most successful role as Rachel on “Friends.” They were smart enough to know that the kind of cluelessness that made her adorable and charming in the early years had to evolve — by the end of the show she was successful professionally and responsible with her child. Here she was playing an immature character and she is too old for that.
This is very interesting post.
One of the worst movies I have seen in years. No wonder the rush to DVD and TV pay per view. Word of mouth travels fast. For about the last 1/2 of the movie, I was just hoping it would hurry up and be over. Thank god I was able to at least sleep through part of it. Bad acting, unrealistic situation, just plain stupid. Don’t waste any money on this.
I agree. I’m sorry you suffered through this awful film, Moviefanatic, but appreciate your letting us know — you will help others from wasting their time. Thanks so much!