Reviews

Sorry, too lazy to post individually:

http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=16691&s=Reviews

http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/52394/MOVIE-REVIEW-The-Bounty-Hunter-12A

Thanks for all of your help, it's much appreciated.

BOUNTY HUNTER, THE

SYNOPSIS:

Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler) is a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, who jumps at the chance to apprehend his ex-wife, reporter Nicole Hurly (Jennifer Aniston), who has jumped bail after a traffic infringement. Not only will he earn his $5,000 bounty, he is also looking forward to getting some sweet revenge. But Nicole gives him the slip so she can chase a lead on a murder cover-up and things become even more complicated when they both find themselves on the run, chased by criminals.

Review by Louise Keller:

The plot? Who cares! That's what the script writer probably said as she cobbled together the contrived, far-fetched scenarios that form the backdrop for the battle of the sexes between shapely Jennifer Aniston and macho Gerard Butler. It's pretty much what you would expect, as Aniston and Butler play out their love-hate relationship in a romantic comedy with cop, action and road movie elements, although it reeks of being manufactured and lacks wit, subtlety or imagination.

She is an investigative reporter intent on getting her story; he is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter with a gambling habit. I quickly tired of the contrived set ups as Butler's Milo snaps the handcuffs on Aniston's Nicole and locks them first to the bed-head and then the door of his blue convertible. Perhaps the most ridiculous moment comes when Nicole goads Milo to accept her challenge to turn her $500 into $10,000 at the nearest casino. That is when she is his prisoner and they are at each other's throats.

Yes, that's the cue for throwing winning sevens and elevens before a predictable downturn of events. Aniston flaunts her wares wearing a tight black mini skirt, stilettos and showing cleavage, while Butler takes off his shirt to reveal an impressive six-pack after the dice throwing is over. There's a car chase of sorts, an out of control golf-cart that belly-flops into a lake, colourful characters in a dive of a tattoo parlour and a ridiculous side plot about an amorous, nerdy journalist with whom Nicole once had a fling. Christine Baranski sparkles brightly as Aniston's over-the-top cabaret singer mother.

The film's most sincere moment comes during the dinner scene at Cupid's Honeymoon Cabin when Nicole and Milo, dressed in borrowed clothes, reveal their true emotions. It's a charming scene but there's plenty more fluff before the predictable resolution and the inevitable kiss that does come, but not as you might expect. Fans of the two leads may enjoy the banter and foreplay, but it's slim pickings for discerning movie lovers and is never smart enough, sexy enough or funny enough to be memorable.

http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=16691&s=Reviews

MOVIE REVIEW: The Bounty Hunter (12A)
Will Jen and Gerry's chemistry be enough to carry this film..?

March 15 2010

Milo (Gerard Butler) is a decidedly unsuccessful bounty hunter with substantial gambling debts and a broken heart after his divorce. He luck begins to turn when he takes his latest job- finding his wife Nicole (Jennifer Aniston), an investigative reporter who has skipped bail to chase a story about a suspicious suicide. Milo soon gets his woman, but with the evil Mahler (Peter Green) chasing Nicole, and a pair of clumsy goons on the tail of Milo, surviving each other may be the least of their problems.

The trailer outlines the story really- Butler chases Aniston, catches her, and the shenanigans ensue! A simple plot accompanied by an equally simple script- we have the stereotype ‘dirty cop’ chasing Nicole, the comedy loan sharks whom Milo owes a lot of money. The jokes are hit and miss (unless you are recently divorced yourself), and a lot of the film resembles a Benny Hill sketch, with characters chasing eachother left right and centre. A saving grace is the pace, which doesn’t waste time on building up to the main plot, rather throws you head first into the action (mainly meaning Butler beating people up or Aniston trying to slip out of handcuffs).

It’s an equally unsurprising showing from either of the stars. If you’ve seen any of her rom-coms you’ll know what’s coming from Aniston. It’s a shame her work in independent film (such as 08’s ‘Management’) is not as prolific as her studio output, as here she’s a feistier version of Rachel, just as she was in ‘Love Happens’ and ‘Marley & Me.’ Similarly, those who didn’t see the trailer may think Butler’s character from ‘The Ugly Truth’ has wandered into another film. His crass-but-charming routine wears thin here as it did then, but at least he’s not in a bath of jelly this time.

‘The Bounty Hunter’ has enough giggles to save it from disaster, but nothing to make you roll in the aisles, and a few gun shots in the predictable finale only barely accounts for the ‘action’ in this action-comedy. The two leads’ combined charisma has enough to keep it going, but if you want anything more than a light, forgettable film this may not be for you.

http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/52394/MOVIE-REVIEW-The-Bounty-Hunter-12A

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/reviews/film/the-bounty-hunter-$1365661.htm

The Bounty Hunter

Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler in The Bounty Hunter

Tuesday, 16, Mar 2010 04:36

By Lewis Bazley.

Directed by Andy Tennant, out March 17th in cinemas, starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Christine Baranski, Jason Sudeikis, running time 110 mins.

What's it all about?

Former cop and eponymous bounty hunter Milo Boyd (Butler) gets the best assignment of his career when he's tasked with tracking down his reporter ex-wife Nicole (Aniston) after she skips a court date. But as Nicole refuses to give up on a possible story lead, the pair find themselves in a fight for their lives as they realise why they fell for each other in the first place.

As an example...

"You have every right to hate your life. I mean, who wouldn't after some of the choices you've made." - Nicole's mother

What the others say

"It's slim pickings for discerning movie lovers and is never smart enough, sexy enough or funny enough to be memorable." - Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile

"The Bounty Hunter has enough giggles to save it from disaster, but nothing to make you roll in the aisles, and a few gun shots in the predictable finale only barely accounts for the 'action' in this action-comedy." - Entertainmentwise

So is it any good?

You'll start to shift in your seat after around five minutes of this so-called action comedy when you realise you've neither laughed nor been remotely thrilled during a ludicrous opening set piece that sees Butler's boorish Milo chasing down a target during a Fourth of July parade. Those initial misgivings will prove crushingly correct as 110 minutes that feel like years play out without a redeeming feature. Director Tennant has decided to ignore the critical mauling handed to two of his previous outings - Fools' Gold and Sweet Home Alabama - by loading the script with reprisals of the affection-disguised-as-loathing fashion of juvenile bickering we've seen in a thousand different romantic comedies. While Aniston's a capable comedienne on her day, her bitchy and self-obsessed character is as dislikeable as Butler's poorly-acted oaf while the distraction of some wildly uneven supporting performances is worsened by a score seemingly based on the Shaft soundtrack. There's not a pleasant character in the entire film and logic is tossed swiftly off the roof as Butler's well-built bounty hunter chases down a slight woman, waves a gun around menacingly before tossing her into the boot of his car. Tennant and screenwriter Sarah Thorp might claim there's a 'road movie' feel to the duo's race around the eastern seaboard but many of the location shifts do little more than exacerbate the feeling that the screenplay was written by pulling names and places out of a ball pool.

Aniston - who, to give one note of praise, is at her sexiest in years - remarks at one point: "This whole situation - I don't know whether to laugh or cry." To retort, no-one will be moved to the first reaction and if there are tears, they'll be out of frustration at enduring a laboriously paced and dull comedy without any humour.

http://movies.uk.msn.com/reviews/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=152602745&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The Bounty Hunter: MSN Review
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler are the ex-couple brought back together by the fates. But did the fates deal us a decent flick? Anna Smith investigates…


The names Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler don't inspire much rom com confidence these days.
As you've probably gathered from the adverts, they're an ex married couple forced into a farcical road trip when he, the bounty hunter, must take her, the bail skipper, to jail.


Just in case their characters Nicole and Milo run out of funny banter, he's being pursued by a debt collector's heavies and she, a journalist, is investigating a story about a suspicious suicide. Oh, and some bloke from work has a crush on her so is following her about.


This last subplot was actually a good move: Saturday Night Live comedian Jason Sudelikis plays the lovelorn Stewart, who provides welcome relief from the central pair by insisting that Nicole is his girlfriend and they're just going through a rough patch.


You can see the appeal: the bronzed, super-toned Aniston totters around in a tiny skirt and tight top throughout, presumably in an attempt to console any unfortunate men who mistook this for an action movie.


There is action of a sort: some random shooting, a car crash or two, but it's hardly credible stuff - these comedy heavies are no match for a stiletto wearing journalist and her empty-headed ex (he is a Spartan soldier, after all).Were the dialogue sparky, funny or even plain believable, none of this would matter. It's a frivolous film and proud.

But most attempted one-liners fall flat, and Aniston shows little of the comic timing she displayed in Friends. This character is a better fit for her than all those recent "quirky" roles, though - it's Butler's performance that grates most (why aren't the Americans sick of that accent by now?).As ever, the comedy sidekicks come out on top. Christine Baranaski provides a few giggles as Nicole's cabaret singer mother, who mistakes Nicole for drag queen pals when she calls up saying, "it's me". Most of the best jokes are, in fact, at Aniston's expense: at a golf club, she claims to be a former model, which is met with a look of barely-disguised incredulity.


To add insult to injury, all the sparring between the central couple reminds you of Mr and Mrs Smith, the film in which Brad Pitt met Angelina Jolie. The film that was funnier, better and sexier than the one on which Jennifer met Gerard. Oh dear. Altogether now: poor Jen.



Not the worst. But if that poster gave you a sinking feeling, then trust your instincts.


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http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2010/03/16/the-bounty-hunter-review-we-give-our-verdict/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=pingfm

The Bounty Hunter Review: We Give Our Verdict
March 16, 2010
|
By: Charles
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Jason Sudeikis, Christine Baranski
Director: Andy Tennant
Running time: 106 minutes
Trailer: Watch it here

In a nutshell: Jennifer Aniston's status as a bankable movie star has seen plenty of ups and downs since Friends ended in 2004, but last year's Marley & Me delivered her biggest hit so far, and it's not surprising to see her now heading up this big-budget action romcom. She plays investigative reporter Nicole, who believes there's more than meets the eye to the apparent suicide of an employee from a police evidence room. Shame that she failed to attend her own court appearance over a traffic offence, and now has a bounty hunter tasked with bringing her in – specifically Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler), her hated ex-husband. With Nicole and Milo forced to spend time together once again, will their long-extinguished love rekindle?

What's good about it? As she's already proved, Aniston can add warmth to a character that is thinly written on the page (Marley & Me) or exhibits potentially unappealing controlling tendencies (The Break-Up). She can also cook up decent chemistry with the most unlikely of male co-stars (even Paul Rudd playing her gay housemate in 1998's The Object Of My Affection). Butler is repeating the redeemable boor he played in last year's The Ugly Truth, but you'll still want these two to get back together. Handy that as, this being a romcom, that is exactly what is bound to happen.

What's not so good? As is so often the case with this genre, neither of the lead characters are particularly funny, leaving the various supporting players to do the comedy heavy lifting. Christine Baranski is good value as Nicole's Atlantic City showgirl mother; Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live) tries his best with Nicole's dopey, besotted colleague. Then this not-terribly-comedic film becomes less funny when the action element kicks into high gear, with the pair caught up in a plot involving a corrupt cop, a scary tattoo artist and an irate debt collector. None of this would matter were it not for the film's one really serious flaw: its dispiriting paucity of originality.

Verdict: Hollywood journeyman Andy Tennant's last movie was the feeble action romcom Fool's Gold, with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. This one is a slight improvement, elevated by a pair of likeable lead actors, but should we really be encouraging Hollywood studios to make more of the same?

Rating: 5 out of 10

http://blog.onthebox.com/2010/03/16/the-bounty-hunter-review-unwanted/

The Bounty Hunter Review: (Un)Wanted
March 16, 2010 by Sean Marland

THE BOUNTY HUNTER (12A): On General Release Wednesday 17th March

There’s usually a reason for air-tight pre-screening restrictions and syncronised trans-Atlantic release dates.

More often than not it means the film in question is bad. Bad enough to make the studio think they need to at least get a few dollars on the door before everyone realises what a pile of proverbial it is.

In this tradition, The Bounty Hunter does not disappoint, and manages to fall between the chairs of rom-com and actioner without much grace.

Gerard Butler seems to be typcasting himself into two roles of late. One normally sees him playing a bloody mentalist hell-bent on a life of carnage (Law Abiding Citizen) and leather underpants (300), and the other far uglier side of his screen persona is a line in shabby rom-coms with a car chase thrown in for good measure. With the exception of his Spartan sojourn, none of these efforts have achieved the desired result.

But Butler is nothing if not a tryer (and pretty volatile one at that) so here he labours forward, helped on his way to the ‘catch-all’ wasteland by a beautifully average Jennifer Aniston.

As you may have guessed, Butler plays Milo, the eponymous bounty hunter who has been hired to bring in his ex-wife Nicole (Aniston) after she skips bail. What a rub! Needless to say, despite the fact that he is a hardened man-hunter with a slew of dangerous crooks under his belt, Nicole proves to be Milo’s biggest challenge yet, and before you can say ‘What’s Boba Fett’s pager number?’ there’s a hint of chemistry bubbling between the pair again.

Well I’m sure that’s what it said in the script, but sadly such froth fails to materialise on screen. Some clever set-pieces though.

http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/88402/the-bounty-hunter.html


The Bounty Hunter (2010)
Director: Andy Tennant

Time Out rating 1

Hollywood’s campaign to convince audiences that beefy Scots bulldog Gerard Butler can play the romantic lead gathers pace with this misjudged marital crime caper. Butler plays Milo Boyd, an ex-cop turned bail bondsman assigned to haul in his ex-wife Nicole (Jennifer Aniston), a hotshot reporter in deep with the law. The pursuit takes this pair of bickering exes from New York to Atlantic City and back, via a series of perfunctory car chases, poorly choreographed punch-ups and excruciating romantic entanglements.

The trouble is not so much that Butler isn’t funny – he isn’t, even slightly – but that he sucks the merest hint of humour from the entire enterprise. Even proven performers like Aniston and Christine Baranski as a sexually voracious mother-in-law are reduced to desperate mugging and hysterical arm-waving in an attempt to fill the comic vacuum which their muscular co-star leaves in his wake. To be fair, the script gives them little to work with: there are maybe three decent laughs, interspersed with long stretches of interminable, would-be witty banter and one near-unwatchable comedy torture scene.

The score, too, is atrocious: infuriatingly cheeky in the comedy scenes, switching to screeching Bon Jovi-esque AOR whenever things kick off. ‘The Bounty Hunter’ isn’t bad enough to be offensive: it’s simply lazy, trite, smug, irritating and a colossal waste of time, talent and money. There’ll be worse films released in 2010 – but not many.

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a208997/the-bounty-hunter.html

The Bounty Hunter
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 8:00pm EDT

By Simon Reynolds, Movies Editor


Director: Andy Tennant
Screenwriter: Sarah Thorp
Starring: Gerard Butler, Jennifer Aniston, Christine Baranski, Jason Sudeikis, Natalie Morales
Running time: 106 mins
Certificate: 12a

A romantic comedy that riffs on Midnight Run, The Bounty Hunter pits Jennifer Aniston's career-driven reporter Nicole Hurley against her boorish, gambling ex-husband Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler). When Nicole dodges a court appearance (for driving into a police horse) and finds her bail rescinded, the broke and out-of-luck Milo takes on the task of bringing in Nicole for the reward money. As the pursuit unfolds, Nicole continues to investigate an old suicide case that looks suspiciously like a murder.

Directed by Andy Tennant, who last helmed the risible Fool's Gold, the film blends romance (for the girls), action (for boys) and murder mystery (to bind the other two together) but ends up never satisfying in any of the genres its tries to hit. Tennant has generously described the film as a "take-no-prisoners marital comedy" and "subversive and funny". He's perhaps viewing it through rose-tinted glasses, because there's little that's surprising or going against the Hollywood grain here. Inevitably the story plays out exactly how you think it will as the parted exes begin to rebuild their relationship and fall for each other all over again. This bickering couple shtick has been done much better (and more subversively) elsewhere, notably in The War Of The Roses with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner's combustible relationship. The Bounty Hunter ultimately feels like a feather-weight Mr & Mrs Smith, hardly an example of a glittering blockbuster in the first place.

As Butler finds Aniston constantly slipping out of his handcuffs, the exasperation never builds to a point where either actor starts to take risks with their character. Butler (origin of accent undetermined) is again playing a louche brute who we ultimately must find affable, while Aniston carries the mannerisms (hair fiddling, puzzled exclamations of "huh?") she's had since her Friends days. Once primed to inherit Meg Ryan's rom-com queen crown, Aniston is finding herself in increasingly middling work. She may end up making a great movie at some point, but you feel it'll be almost completely by accident or through Sharon Stone in Casino-style good fortune. There's no reason why the former Rachel Green couldn't have taken on the Sandra Bullock part in The Blind Side and done a decent job, for instance, but moving out of the well-paid comfort zone doesn't seem to interest her.

The Bounty Hunter is another largely forgettable, factory-line girl-falling-out-with-then-making-up-with-boy vehicle with designs on hoovering up cinemagoers' cash. Really, though, it's not worth it - the stars aren't working at full throttle, there's not much sexiness to their relationship and the action scenes aren't staged with much energy or momentum. Still, it could be much worse, it could be Old Dogs…

http://www.rte.ie/arts/2010/0315/thebountyhunter.html

The Bounty Hunter
Director: Andy Tennant

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Christine Baranski, Jason Sudeikis, Dorian Missick, Cathy Moriarty, Peter Greene, Joel Garland and Adam Rose.

Duration: 110 minutes

The weekend before last, Sandra Bullock did her credibility the power of good by turning up to accept an award and making a funny speech. Like Halle Berry before her, having won the Razzie for Worst Actress, Bullock showed the world that she got the joke. You'd like to think that Jennifer Aniston will show the same sense of fun if she gets the nod next year - it's only March, but after 'The Bounty Hunter' she's a contender.

She plays Nicole Hurley, a journalist who becomes a fugitive when she fails to turn up to answer a charge of assaulting a police horse with her car because she's trying to break a big story. Enter Milo Boyd (Butler), a bounty hunter, former cop - and Nicole's ex-husband. With $5,000 waiting for him when Nicole's behind bars, Milo won't hear a word about her police corruption scoop, but she's not going to take 'no' for an answer.

Aniston looking great in a black skirt and heels and Butler looking beefy in a short-sleeved shirt aren't good enough reasons to make a film. Did someone think that just putting them together would let the magic flow? Eh, you have to give them something to work with, too.

As light on gags as it is on charm, 'The Bounty Hunter' is a real stinker and if you ever met its two stars after seeing it the first question out of your mouth would not be "Can I take a photo?" or "Are you doing anything Saturday night?" but either "How in the name of all that's holy did you read that script and think it was decent?" or "Are you going to give me my €10 back?"

'The Bounty Hunter' manages to feel rushed and longer than 'Avatar' simultaneously. Scenes fall flat because the punchlines are so weak and the constant bickering between the we-still-fancy-each-other Nicole and Milo gets old very quickly - 'Midnight Run' it isn't. Sometimes you'll look through your hands, sometimes you'll give two fingers to the screen but mostly you'll be working on a serious case of RSI from checking your watch.


Harry Guerin

Wow, I have only skimmed these so far, but based on what I've seen, it doesn't look like it's getting very good reviews.

Has anyone seen any good reviews? I have posted all that I have seen and those that have been referenced other places.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/17/entertainment/e120146D05.DTL

Review: Aniston and Butler in `The Bounty Hunter'
By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer

In Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight," George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez memorably created romantic sparks while huddled in the trunk of a car. By contrast, the action-laden romantic-comedy "The Bounty Hunter" begins with Jennifer Aniston bursting out a trunk in a smokey blaze of ignited flares as Gerard Butler chases after her.

As incubators of chemistry, the trunk of "Out of Sight" has the stuff, while "The Bounty Hunter" is up in smoke.

The premise of "The Bounty Hunter" is as much an absurd gimmick as it is an effective hook.

Butler, the buff, smirking Scottish star of "300" and "The Ugly Truth," plays Milo Boyd, a former cop turned bounty hunter who gets the job of his life: the opportunity to drag his ex-wife (Aniston) to jail.

As Nicole Hurley, Aniston, somewhat incredibly, is a hard-nosed crime reporter for the New York Daily News (its offices make a cameo). While tenaciously pursuing a lead on a suspicious murder on the Lower East Side, Hurley misses a court appearance for a car accident, and the judge issues a warrant for her arrest.

But neither actor is playing a character as much as they're playing movie stars. At no point in "The Bounty Hunter" are you anything but fully aware that you're watching Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler — and perhaps that's the idea.

For better and worse, "The Bounty Hunter" is an opportunity to sit in the dark with these two likable, attractive stars, rather than piece together distorted glimpses of them in the tabloids.

Here is Aniston smartly dressed in tight skirts and heels, composed and discombobulated at once; and Butler: brash, unshaven, a little sweaty and at one moment — to the glee of half the audience — shirtless.

Exactly why Milo and Nicole split after a relatively brief marriage is never specified (she was too career-focused, he says; he wasn't understanding, she says), but they certainly can't stand each other anymore. Thrown back together, they gradually rehash the past as they travel from Atlantic City back to New York, their course repeatedly thrown off by various attackers.

A number of supporting characters are summoned for comic flashes: Jason Sudeikis (as a fellow News reporter in love with Nicole), Jeff Garlin (as Milo's boss), Christine Baranski (as Nicole's mother) and Jayne Houdyshell (as a landlady), among them.

Director Andy Tennant ("Hitch,""Fool's Gold") overstuffs the film with constant overlaid music, impatient cutting and a generally unsettled approach. The film, from Sarah Thorp's unimaginative screenplay, works best when the circus pauses.

But this is a film for its stars. As Butler adds romantic comedies to his action film base, he can be a fresh bit of rugged energy. He remains exceptionally watchable, a quality Aniston shares. But her movie career, launched in earnest after "Friends," continues to pile up forgettable romantic comedies that fall short of her talent.

Divorce has often been excellent fodder for comedies (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in the superb "The Awful Truth" is the gold standard), but "The Bounty Hunter" has little to offer besides some face-time with handsome stars.

"The Bounty Hunter," a Columbia Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for sexual content including suggestive comments, language and some violence. Running time: 110 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/the-bounty-hunter/4724

The Bounty Hunter *
by Nick Schager on March 17, 2010

A stark example of misbegotten chemistry and its resultant pitfalls, The Bounty Hunter combines Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston and promptly fizzes upon contact. To say that the two are no Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert is putting it mildly; rarely have supposedly charming stars seemed less natural or comfortable playing unlikely soulmates, in this case a slovenly bounty hunter named Milo (Butler) and the tough ex-wife reporter Nicole (Aniston) he's tasked with finding and taking to jail. The pair receive little help from the contrived scenario of Andy Tennant's film, which finds them bickering like bitter, petty children along a journey that comes to include dodging a bookie's thugs, solving a murder-conspiracy, and, naturally, falling back in love.


These non-amorous subplots combine to form a surefire cure for insomnia, though Sarah Thorp's dawdling script still can't be wholly blamed for the inertia that plagues the central duo's rapport. Milo and Nicole squabble and harrumph at each other's foibles ad nauseam, yet despite their characters' deliberate opposites-attract construction, the headliners simply look wrong together, his wild, roguish scruffiness too far removed from her immaculate stylishness and poise. Given Aniston's cold, hard demeanor, when Nicole's mom (Christine Baranski) describes her daughter by saying "On the outside, she may be a strong, independent woman, but on the inside, she's just a girl waiting to be loved by her man," the moment comes off as so much laughable wishful thinking. Said groan-worthy statement is also indicative of the proceedings' regressive sexual politics, found otherwise in Milo's "Me Tarzan, You Jane" manhandling of Nicole as well as his stereotypical macho belief—predicated on Nicole's auto-related arrest—that "women are the worst drivers."


All the while, pop songs burst forth to energize perfunctory transitional sequences and cartoony chases that are as unnecessary as Jason Sudeikis's aggravating role as a doofus newsman smitten with Aniston. Everything ultimately culminates with lame gunplay, but the only real tension and anticipation found in Tennant's dud comes from the repeated sight of Butler and Aniston driving while not wearing seatbelts, images which create anticipation for a literal wreck to match the figurative one that is Bounty Hunter's entirety.

http://www.bigpondmovies.com/libraries/article_library/movie_listings/39494-The-Bounty-Hunter/

Review: The Bounty Hunter
by Karlie Jeffrey, Filmink, 18/03/2010

Jen and Gerard do for The Bounty Hunter what Brad and Ang did for Mr. and Mrs. Smith; that is that rumours of their off screen relationship make you want to see the foundations of it onscreen. But after you sit through 110 minutes of this lackluster action comedy, you'll be asking yourself whether the romance that supposedly happened on set was fabricated after producers saw the final cut.

Jen plays Nicole Hurley, a ballsy reporter who manages to chase hard-hitting news stories in a tight pencil skirt and heels. But when she skips bail to chase a lead in a murder cover-up, her ex-husband/bounty hunter Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler) is ordered to bring her in. Problem is, Nicole is onto a big story and finds not only is she trying to outrun Milo, she's trying to outrun criminals, too.

Directed by Andy Tennant, this story is surprisingly similar to his last film Fool's Gold, in that two exes find their paths cross and they start falling for each other. Also, like Fool's Gold, Andy has cast two charismatic and attractive actors in the lead. But also like Fool's Gold, the script doesn't deliver and you find the actors are clutching at straws to lift the film up. Jen and Gerard do look hot together, but the endless scenes of them bickering about the same relationship issues are not relatable. It's boring.

While Tennant's film is better than his last (it would have to be), it isn't by much. The script relies on a plot that is messily put together and on obvious laughs, which sometimes don't come at all. What could have been a witty, sexy, action comedy turns into an obvious, predictable, sort of sexy, run of the mill rom com which is really disappointing considering the hype. Wonder what their relationship is really like then?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2010/03/movie-review-the-bount-hunter.html


Movie Review: The Bounty Hunter
Casting Calls — posted by otownrog on March, 17 2010 12:00 PM
Discuss This: Comments(0) | Add to del.icio.us | Digg it Three films into his romantic comedy career Gerard Butler has finally reached “watchable.” With The Bounty Hunter, the bemused Scots leading man comes closer to setting off sparks with his newest leading lady, Jennifer Aniston. Well, closer than he came with Hilary Swank (P.S. I Love You) or Katherine Heigl (The Ugly Truth).

The comedy isn’t much better than Butler’s earlier outings. (The Ugly Truth was a critically reviled box office hit). But at least Aniston, when she has to, can faintly recall the timing and energy it takes to fake the comic charm she had on TV’s Friends.

Butler plays an ex-cop with a gambling problem and an ongoing grudge against his ex-wife, a career-minded New York Daily News reporter. Nowadays, Milo Boyd is a bounty hunter, tracking down crooks who skip out on bail, handcuffing them even if he has to chase them, on stilts, through the middle of a July 4th parade.

When Nicole (Aniston) misses a court date and her bail bondsman (Jeff Garlin) is out $50,000, Milo takes the gig – “It’s KARMA!” he crows.

But a reporter on a big story involving murder and corruption won’t be easy to track. Unless, of course, you used to be married to her. When Milo finds her, he’s a good sport.

“Tell you what. You want to make a break for it, I’ll give you a ten second head start, for old time’s sake!”

Thus begins a cross-state odyssey in which a killer, the cops, a smitten fellow reporter (Jason Sudeikis, kind of funny) and enforcers for a bookie (Cathy Moriarty) chase our never-compatible-couple, two people whose “trust issues” aren’t resolved by Milo’s handcuffs.


Aniston doesn’t bring her old A-game to this. But at least she’s not quiet and reserved and no-energy, her approach to too many roles of late. Butler makes the most of his Neanderthal rut – too many roles that rely on the twinkle in his eye, his manly voice and manly stubble.

Of the many recognizable supporting players, only the formidable Christine Baranski (Mamma Mia!) scores.

Director Andy “Fool’s Gold” Tennant makes sure the whole shooting match devolves into a shooting match, which only makes one appreciate Butler’s romantic comedy efforts more. If he’s co-starring with Jen, at least he’s not making another Gamer. Or Law Abiding Citizen.


See for Yourself

The Bounty Hunter

One and a half stars out of four

Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Jeff Garlin, Carol Kane, Cathy Moriarty.

Director: Andy Tennant

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Industry rating: PG-13 for sexual content including suggestive comments, language and some violence.

OUCH!

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/the-bounty-hunter-film-review-32505.html

The ViewLondon Review

Review byMatthew Turner17/03/2010
Two out of Five stars
Running time: 100 mins

Disappointing, frequently dull and painfully unfunny romcom that's let down by a badly written script, obnoxious characters and a total lack of chemistry between Butler and Aniston.

What's it all about?
Directed by Andy Tennant (Hitch), The Bounty Hunter stars Gerard Butler as ex-cop-turned-bounty-hunter Milo Boyd, who's overjoyed when he's assigned to track down his bail-jumping ex-wife Nicole (Jennifer Aniston) and escort her to jail. However, far from being a career criminal (as the trailer seems to promise), Nicole is actually an investigative reporter on the trail of a murder cover-up and it isn't long before the pair find themselves on the run from gun-toting bad guys and falling for each other all over again.

The Good
To be fair to Jennifer Aniston, she's the best thing about The Bounty Hunter, in the same way that Amy Adams was the only good thing about Leap Year. It also has a potentially interesting premise (think Midnight Run meets War of the Roses) but the fact that Nicole is only wanted for a traffic violation strips it of any edge it might have had, which is a shame, because it might have been fun to see Aniston play an out-and-out bitch for once.

The Bad
If Jennifer Aniston is the best thing about The Bounty Hunter then Gerard Butler is easily the worst – essentially reprising his boorish character from The Ugly Truth, he's utterly obnoxious (his smug laugh is particularly annoying) and a charisma-free zone from start to finish. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he has zero chemistry with Aniston and neither of them can bring any spark to either the love scenes or the scenes where they're fighting.

The film is also let down by poor pacing and an atrocious script that doesn't bother to tell you how Milo and Nicole met in the first place or how they split up or anything that might explain why he supposedly hates her so much at the beginning. On top of that, none of the jokes work and the film wastes a talented supporting cast that includes Christine Baranski (Nicole's mother), Jason Sudeikis (Nicole's obsessed co-worker) and the wonderful Cathy Moriarty, whose loan shark character inexplicably disappears halfway through.

Worth seeing?
The Bounty Hunter is badly written, poorly directed, frequently boring and totally lacking in either laughs or chemistry. Can Gerard Butler stop making romcoms now please?

Variety Review:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942412.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

The Bounty Hunter
By JUSTIN CHANG


There are no rewards to be claimed for enduring "The Bounty Hunter." This dire battle-of-the-exes action-comedy severely tests audience goodwill by running an indulgent 110 minutes, crammed as it is with half-baked thriller subplots and aimless supporting characters, as if to distract from the central duo's nonstop bickering. Sony release could post solid opening numbers on the backs of its ill-served leads Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston, but looks unlikely to prevail in the long run over sour word of mouth.
Perhaps inadvertently, helmer Andy Tennant and scenarist Sarah Thorp have fashioned a sort of modern-day reworking of "His Girl Friday," insofar as "The Bounty Hunter" is also a comedy of remarriage featuring a feisty femme reporter, an ex-husband in hot pursuit and a raft of gun-toting shenanigans. (It also contains a shot of a newsroom teeming with gainfully employed print journalists, an anachronism if ever there was one.) There, however, any comparisons with the Howard Hawks classic must come to an end; it's more likely Tennant opted to recycle the warring-couple angle from his previous pic, "Fool's Gold," in a less tropical setting. Well, mission completed ("accomplished" isn't the word).

Charged with an undisclosed felony, New York investigative reporter Nicole (Aniston) skips bail to chase down a story involving a suspicious suicide and possible NYPD corruption. This turns out to be the ultimate revenge opportunity for her former spouse, cop-turned-bounty hunter Milo (Butler), who is assigned to take Nicole into custody. It's a tidily contrived premise that takes an exhausting 20 minutes to set up, delayed by a chase sequence in the middle of a Fourth of July parade and a clueless reporter (Jason Sudeikis) whose romantic interest in Nicole proves as obnoxious to the audience as it is to her.

Milo soon tracks Nicole down in Atlantic City, and their quarrelsome dynamic moves to the fore, starting with a scene in which he temporarily stuffs her into the trunk of his car, in broad daylight, without a word of onlooker alarm. Relishing his legal authority over his ex-wife, Milo begins their long drive back to New York -- and, inevitably, down memory lane -- with multiple farcical pit stops involving handcuffs, a Taser, a rickshaw, a golf cart and a bag of money. Add a trigger-happy psycho (Peter Greene) and two thugs, and it's hard not to feel that all this strenuous over-complication amounts to a vote of no confidence in the two leads. A leaner, smarter movie would have allowed them to carry the day.

As it is, the thesps are essentially retreading past roles -- Aniston was a brittle ex in "The Break-Up," Butler a cocksure pig in last year's "The Ugly Truth" -- which wouldn't matter so much if their banter had half the sparkle of the Atlantic City casinos they keep driving past. The characters' turbulent romantic history is referenced often but never explored; when it suddenly dawns on Nicole that she can't remember why she hates Milo in the first place, it's clear the filmmakers haven't a clue, either.

Jeff Garlin, Siobhan Fallon Hogan and Christine Baranski register fleetingly in throwaway roles. Tech credits are routine; Aniston and Butler aren't always flatteringly lit, and the music cues often seem to be shouting them down.

Hollywood Reporter Review:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/the-bounty-hunter-film-review-1004076641.story

The Bounty Hunter -- Film Review
By Kirk Honeycutt, March 17, 2010 06:00 ET

"The Bounty Hunter"
Bottom Line: Silliness prevails in this lame thriller comedy.
"The Bounty Hunter" tries to lasso an action thriller into a marital comedy about battling former spouses to the detriment of both story lines. The mishmash ends up as a thoroughly unfunny adult cartoon where neither the heroes' lives nor their love lives are in any serious jeopardy. With star power in Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, the film will bring in enough of the date crowd for a decent opening north of $20 million but could fade rapidly.

Thrillers and comedies essentially inhabit different worlds, so any marriage between the genres is likely to be a rocky one. Director Andy Tennant only exacerbates these genre tensions by keeping the action at the level of TV skit comedy, whose silliness completely undermines the thriller elements. Put it this way: Would an ex-husband/bounty hunter seeking to bring in his bail-jumping ex-wife really enter her apartment with his gun drawn? Or would the former couple really react to an attempt to murder them in broad daylight by continuing a quarrel?

They do in Tennant's world, which is a reason why at least some audience members might root for the two to never patch up their differences. This couple seems better suited to remaining divorced.

Butler's Milo Boyd was once a New York cop, but his divorce supposedly triggered enough drinking to get him booted off the force. Now he's a bounty hunter, with the mob after him because of gambling debts. Aniston's Nicole Hurley is a New York Daily News reporter who skips a court date while chasing a story about a possible police cover-up. A bench warrant is issued to bring her in.

So far, so contrived. It gets worse. A mutual friend of both ex-spouses seems to be involved in the cover-up, Nicole's besotted news colleague ("Saturday Night Live's" Jason Sudeikis) is stalking her and collection goons are searching for Milo.

Then a bad guy (Peter Greene) tracks them down. Remaining completely superfluous to any of this is Christine Baranski's throwaway role as Nicole's flamboyant mother, an Atlantic City headliner.

The humor is played far too broadly, and the situations in Sara Thorp's script all are lethally predictable. Behavior is dictated not by character but comedy needs. The differences between Milo and Nicole are made convincingly unreconcilable so that the eventual thaw in their relationship has all the credibility of a three-dollar bill. Nor does it help matters that the two leads pretty much punch the clock.

Okay, I think I need to stop posting reviews soon, because they are all starting to blend together. The reviews at RottenTomatoes.com are starting to come in. You all can look over there for more....

For Nay, just cause it's from Australia:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-bounty-hunter-20100317-qfmu.html

The Bounty Hunter
REVIEWED BY JIM SCHEMBRI
March 18, 2010


Reviewer rating:
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Reader rating:
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars (27 votes)

IF YOU have ever wondered about the cinematic equivalent of fingernails running down a blackboard, here's your answer.


In this unfunny, endless rom-com dirge, Gerard Butler (300, The Ugly Truth) is the beefy bounty hunter to Jennifer Aniston's leather-skinned ex-wife and reporter whom he has to take to jail.

A barely comprehensible murder plot complicates their predictable attempts to reconcile.



Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston star in The Bounty Hunter. Photo: Barry Wetcher
It's not so much the film's formulaic plot that grates but the total lack of chemistry between the lifeless leads.

Butler delivers dialogue as if he has a golf ball in his mouth while Aniston totters about like a robot in a pencil skirt and high heels.


She is written by computer and has no comic spark. Awful.

Included this one just because of the hair and scowl comment:

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2010-03-18/film/the-bounty-hunter-embraces-every-stereotype-to-sell-pre-packaged-romance

The Bounty Hunter Embraces Every Stereotype to Sell Pre-packaged Romance


By Brian Miller
Published on March 17, 2010 at 12:32pm
This badge gives Gerard Butler the right to employ stereotypes.You've followed their packaged romance in the supermarket checkout line — now see the movie.

Jennifer Aniston's hair plays a New York Daily News crime reporter who stumbles onto corruption at the precinct house. Gerard Butler's scowl plays her ex, a former policeman now working as a bounty hunter. For reasons that don't matter, she misses a court date, and he pursues her—for the $5,000 reward, he says, not love — to Atlantic City. Also in pursuit are a dirty cop, a couple of thugs dispatched by Butler's bookie, and Aniston's colleague (Jason Sudeikis), who's got a crush on her, plus an even deeper love for pastel V-neck sweater vests.

Produced by the team behind Sweet Home Alabama, The Bounty Hunter embraces every stereotype about bickering, mismatched couples: He's the slovenly lout with a bruised heart; she's the Type A career woman, wearing the skimpiest outfit and highest heels in the newsroom — yet something's missing her life. That he has to arrest her for them to confront their feelings isn't a bad screwball premise, but the script has all the spunk of Ikea-bookcase assembly instructions. The Bounty Hunter is a no less flimsy a product (though if you removed the two stars—with zero chemistry between them—matters would be greatly improved.

Besides Sudeikis, there are small, enjoyable bits from Jeff Garlin, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, and Christine Baranski. On the soundtrack, Jerry Reed sings "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)." Viewers will know exactly the same feeling

From Rogert Ebert:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100317/REVIEWS/100319979


The Bounty Hunter


BY ROGER EBERT / March 17, 2010

I'm on the brink of declaring a new entry for Ebert's Little Movie Glossary: No comedy not titled "Caddyshack" has ever created a funny joke involving a golf cart. The only thing preventing me is that I can't remember if "Caddyshack" had golf cart jokes. In any event, if there is a golf cart, it will sooner or later drive into a water hazard. The funny angle here is that the filmmakers went to all that trouble because they trusted the audience to laugh.

I stared with glazed eyes at "The Bounty Hunter." Here is a film with no need to exist. Among its sins is the misuse of Jennifer Aniston, who can be and has been very funny, but not in dreck like this. Lacking any degree of character development, it handcuffs her to a plot of exhausted action comedy cliches -- and also to a car door and a bed.

The handcuffer is her former husband Milo (Gerard Butler), a former cop who is now a bounty hunter and draws the assignment of tracking down his ex-wife, who has skipped bail. Have I lost touch, or are bounty hunters routinely deployed to track down criminals accused of no more than a non-fatal traffic violation? Never mind.

Let's do a little mental exercise here, the same sort that the screenplay writer, Sarah Thorp, must have done. Remember the ground rules: The movie must contain only cliches. I used to test this exercise on my film class. I'd give them the genre, and begin sentences ending with an ellipsis. They'd compete to be first to shout out the answer.

1. The story involves a formerly married couple. He is a bounty hunter tracking her down for ...

2. They dislike each other. So by the end of the movie ...

3. He drives a ...

4. Because ...

5. And his beloved ...

6. He loves to gamble. Their road trip takes them to ...

7. Where he ...

8. And gets into trouble with ...

9. Inspiring ...

10. In a golf cart, they ...

11. During the movie, he gets kicked ...

12. She wears clothes so we can ...

Well, I already gave you No. 10. To the others, clever students would answer: (1) A non-serious crime, since this is a comedy; (2) will fall back in love; (3) vintage convertible; (4) movies like them, because older cars look like real cars, and with a convertible, you can more easily light the characters and show the landscape; (5) gets damaged; (6) Las Vegas; (7) wins big or loses big, but either way ...; ( gangsters; (9) chase scenes, CGI sequences, impossible action and lots of shots of her running in high heels; (10) you know; (11) in the crotch; (12) peek down her neckline.

Why, oh, why, was this movie necessary? Could it have been redeemed by witty dialogue? Perhaps, but neither is allowed to speak more than efficient sentences serving to further the plot. Hollywood movies started to simplify the dialogue when half the gross started to roll in from overseas. Has anyone noticed the great majority of nations dub foreign-made movies, so that subtitles aren't a problem?

Butler is a hunk who can also act; he's currently starring in Ralph Fiennes' "Coriolanus." Aniston is a gifted comedienne. If you could pay their salaries, wouldn't you try to put them in a better movie? I saw the poster and had a sinking feeling the title gave away the whole story.