Theres a price on Jennifer Anistons head, but its far less than it was before this monstrosity. It was hard to imagine that the Former friends actress would ever make a worse film than Love Happens, a rom-com where she played a florist who falls in love with that oh so under exploited of creatures, the self-help author; or that Gerard Butler would be more inept than he was in The Ugly Truth, a film that was equally as ugly as the truth that it stunk movie theatres out worse than a morbidly obese, speed walking enthusiast whose ran out of deodorant and partook in an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet. Yet incredibly both manage to better (or worsen) their previous accomplishments with The Bounty Hunter, a film so bad that Aniston, Butler and director Andy Tennant deserve bounties on their heads. It's available on Blu-ray now. If you missed the barrage of advertisements I envy you The Bounty Hunter is the story of Gerard Butler looking a far cry from his Leonidas physique and speaking in his now trademark Scotch-American accent an ex cop turned bounty hunter who takes the dream job of hunting down his journalist ex-wife Jennifer Aniston showing what seven days a week in the gym and consuming less than one hundred calories a day looks like who skipped her bail she skimmed the back of a police horse with her car to pursue a huge lead on a murder story. To sum the plot up more succinctly, I quote a piece of Gerard Butlers characters dialogue that had movie marketers exhaling with glee: I get $5000 to pick up my ex wife and take her to jail? Yes, you do. He nabs Jen in Miami, bundles her in his car and sets back off to New York to hand her in. The plot meanders along for an unforgiving 106 minutes, with Jen and Gerard exchanging quips and insults as she attempts unsuccessfully to allude her captor and continue to investigate her murder. Meanwhile we are introduced to said murderer played by Peter Greene thats Zed from Pulp Fiction, the baddie from The Mask, or Redfoot from The Usual Suspects 90s film buffs who now has less hair on his head than enthusiasm for this role that calls for him to look mean and menacing as he pursues Jen who he believes can pin the murder on him. And then theres a rare screen outing for Catherine Moriarty Mrs Jake Lamotta from Raging Bull looking bloated and much like you would imagine Mrs Jake Lamotta would have looked after a few years of marriage to the Raging Bull. She has a beef with Butler debts - and deploys her henchmen to bring him in. Unaware of these forces of antagonism on their backs, the bickering couple continue on their way to New York; naturally through a number of hideous set pieces including a visit to the casinos of Atlantic City (at least it wasnt Vegas) and a contrived stop off at their honeymoon haunt, which is still owned and operated by the same oh-so- charming couple, Jen and Gerard rekindle their romance, only for Gerards insensitive comments about Jen to his bail bondsmen which she overhears to force Jen to turn the tables and make a run from Gerard. The conclusion is as predictable as a game of tennis between Raphael Nadal and a one armed man; first Gerard comes to Jens rescue and saves her from Cathy Moriartys goons who are holding her as collateral against him, then the not-so-happy couple go to take down Peter Green where Jen has to come to the aid of Gerard and together they kill Green and solve the case. Putting aside Jen and Gerards recent record of flops, there is potential in the idea of The Bounty Hunter. Aniston is an accomplished TV comedy actress and although her transition to screen has not always been rosy she has earned honourable mention for her roles in Picture Perfect, The Good Girl and Friends with Money. Butler too has shown he has a skill for comedy with Rock n Rolla and earlier work Dear, Frankie where he skilfully balanced humour with heart. The prospect of these two on top form, thrown into a car handcuffed together and at each others throats for ninety minutes could have great comedic potential. However, a weak script, clichéd characters with an underdeveloped background, and by-the- numbers directing from Andy Tennant cue a pause for the longest sigh of the day when you look up his previous works: Fools Gold, Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama mean the potential is sucked dry and the result is a half-hashed Mr and Mrs Smith wannabe that even more painfully for Jen is far inferior to the film that we are lead to believe caused the break up of her marriage to Brad and the creation of Brangelina.
Quality
The transfer to Blu-Ray is faultless and the five speaker advanced sound quality certainly is deployed nicely in the action scenes. With the exception of showcasing Atlantic city at night perhaps the first film to do this on Blu-Ray I struggle to see the virtues of watching this particular title on Blu- ray over DVD; other than perhaps to admire Miss Anistons toned physique in high definition, as it certainly warrants.
Extras
A lacklustre affair; there are no deleted scenes, goofs, outtakes or anything original or innovative. There is the now obligatory making of documentary where everyone involved with the movie exclaims how when reading the screenplay they laughed from start to finish I guess it read funny plus Jen and Gerard piling so much praise on each other its amazing they were able to stand each others presence long enough to film a single scene given the degree of awe they express to feeling for their co-star. And theres plenty of praise for their director too, who amongst laughing hysterically at the playbacks of footage we saw in the actual movie never before has the phrase I guess you had to be there been more relevant he reveals he doesnt even know what the title of this movie is: Is it Bounty Hunter or The Bounty Hunter. For those keeping track, it is the latter. Not that it matters, A rose by any other name? A faeces by any other name is more suited for this mess. And those who are desperate to gain a greater insight into the locations where the movie was shot, youre in luck, as there is a separate 10-minute featurette solely devoted to this, cutely titled, Stops Along the Way: Hunting Locations. Behind the scenes footage of shoots in New York and Atlantic City are supported by input from location managers and set designers and the director himself, who says that shooting on these real locations gave the film legitimacy. One would have thought having Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler would have achieved this. But if it didnt now, maybe it never will. Theres an exchange in the movie between Jen and Gerard which sums up The Bounty Hunter and their current carrers:
Jen: Life is about making mistakes Gerard: Death is about wishing you had made a whole lot more
The Bounty Hunter certainly pertains to Jens line, and a few more stinkers from these two might mean Gerards line will be somewhat redundant to them when they pass from this world. The Bounty Hunter is available on Blu-ray.