Since her breakout role twenty years ago as Rachel Green in “Friends,” Jennifer Aniston has become a member of Hollywood royalty, albeit less so for her acting skills and more for just being herself. Her career has seen countless rom-com type films, most of poor quality and none that will win any awards, as she seems destined to play reincarnations of Rachel for all eternity.
I may be in the minority in that, though generally predictable and lame, I find Aniston to be a funny lead, with her quirky airhead nature and bubbly personality. And even in her mid-forties, she is still flat out gorgeous and can rival starlets ten and even twenty years her junior.
In 2010, Aniston teamed up with Gerard Butler, who was still reeling from his success in the epic man-movie “300” for one of her seemingly yearly rom-coms. “The Bounty Hunter” hit theatres with little in the way of accolades, which is to be expected, and went to video without so much as a whimper.
Nicole Hurley (Aniston) is a reporter in New York. While she begins to cover a story of a suicide that may have been a murder, she misses an unrelated court appearance and a warrant is issued for her arrest. Bounty hunter Milo Boyd (Butler) gets the assignment, with one catch; Nicole is his ex-wife. In a situation any guy would want to be in, Milo joyfully sets out to track her down. “You’re telling me I get five grand if I pick up my ex-wife and take her to jail?” Man to man, how great would that be?
The rest of the story is as predictable as the forecast in San Diego. It’s so predictable, these aren’t even really spoilers. But in case you’re really slow, stop reading if you don’t want the cat out of the bag. From the start, one can easily tell that whatever crime Nicole did in the first place, it wasn’t really that bad. In a unique twist, I would have liked to see her guilty of something will pizzazz. You can also figure out that by the end, the marriage between Nicole and Milo will be reconciled, with not much effort going into it.
Aniston delivers on-par comedy as she always does, with Butler acting as a somewhat straight man, a role he probably isn’t the most suited for.
As he is in “300,” Butler’s character is a bit eccentric and over-the-top; perfect for playing a sword wielding barbarian but out of place for a former NYPD police officer turned bounty hunter. Sometimes, comedies can work when a usual tough guy is placed in a pedestrian type role and forced to act normal (see “Kindergarten Cop“) but in this case, Butler can’t seem to keep his heartthrob muscleman id at bay. The addition of the suicide/murder plot adds a bit of depth, and includes a great performance by expert villain Peter Greene, but takes a backseat to watching Aniston and Butler just acting silly.
“The Bounty Hunter” is a safe film, one you won’t curse at yourself for watching, but one you won’t place in your top anything either. It falls right in line with most other Jennifer Aniston type films; perfectly average in terms of enjoyment.
by – Matt Christopher
