Milo Boyd, a former police officer and gambler, who owes money to some dangerous bookies, is a bounty hunter, gets his dream job when he is assigned to track down his bail jumping ex-wife. He thinks all that is ahead is an easy payday but when his ex gives him the slip so she can chase a lead on a murder cover-up, Milo realizes nothing ever goes simply with him and his ex. This was a movie that I thought looked very funny and the thriller aspect seemed like a good twist within the romantic comedy. After seeing The Bounty Hunter it missed out on a lot of potential and it should have decided whether it wanted to be a comedy or a suspense thriller, because by trying to be both it succeeded at neither.
I was very surprised by the acting in The Bounty Hunter. Gerard Butler, in the role of Milo just did not work for me as much as he has in other roles I have seen him in. While his character had its moments that I enjoyed, unfortunately these moments were few and far between. Likewise Jennifer Aniston in the role of Nicole, Milo's ex was very lackluster as well. While in a lot of the recent romantic comedies I have seen Aniston in she has been very funny and really made the movie work so well with her character. The dynamic between Butler and Aniston was off throughout most of the movie. I never felt a believability between the two of them as having a hatred each other in being exes as well as the feelings they end up having for each other just felt more like they were dead in portraying this emotion. While they did click for a couple of funny moments together, it is never a great sign for a movie when the funniest scene deals with one of the supporting characters, Stewart getting hit with a horse tranquilizer.
I think the overall concept had room to do a lot with and they could have taken the various situations to different level that they could have been fairly funny and really elevated the comedy aspect in this movie. The story for The Bounty Hunter definitely could have been new and unique, but instead it went nowhere and really gave a feeling of boredom throughout. The thriller aspect of this movie should have been what kept the audience engaged in the story. For me I felt like the thriller part was forced and because of that you just did not care. It would have worked better to have gone one way or the other. In the trying to have the thriller aspect they lost time to focus on the comedy. Had the movie solely focused on the romantic comedy portions The Bounty Hunter may have been a more enjoyable movie that was funny as well. I think part of why the acting did not work is that the script gave Butler and Aniston nowhere to actually take their characters. The characters really had no depth to them. the depth for how you care about the characters is vital even in a romantic comedy. In the romantic comedy it is sometimes the depth of characters that determines how good the movie truly is.
The Bounty Hunter really ends up being one of those forgettable movies. I was disappointed in Butler and Aniston's performances , I think a big part of that is that the script gave their characters nowhere to go. Aniston was still great eye candy and she can still command presences on-screen, but I just wanted to see more from her. The story really missed its opportunities to be a good movie. I expected more going in to seeing The Bounty Hunter, so I am giving it two and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. While this movie is far from great it is still an average movie and at the same time is an okay date movie.
-The Movie Man
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