'The Bounty Hunter'

'The Bounty Hunter' (PG-13) *1/2

Writer: Sarah Thorp
Director: Andy Tennant
Starring: Gerard Butler, Jennifer Aniston, Cathy Moriarty, Jeff Garlin, Jason Dudeikis, Christine Baranski,

I thought about "Romancing the Stone" and "Midnight Run" a lot during the generically titled "The Bounty Hunter". Heck I even thought about what I was going to have for dinner, what laundry I had left to do and how much snow will we get tomorrow? If you haven't guessed yet "The Bounty Hunter" is one of the dullest, stupidest and forced movies I have seen. Straight to DVD movies with no name stars are classics compared to this. This a joyless exercise that has not one laugh, no chemistry between it's two leads and action scenes that are boring. How can you make an action, romantic thriller boring? "The Bounty Hunter" does that and it wastes a lot of talent doing it. If this movie doesn't make a lot of money it could ruin Aniston's career. The movie is about a newspaper reporter played by Aniston who breaks a murder suicide case dealing with dirty cops. She skips bail on a case where she bumped into an officer and she is now chased by an ex-cop bounty hunter who happens to be her ex-husband. Gerard does his best with what he has as the bounty hunter but I kept thinking of Deniro in "Midnight Run" and sorry Butler fails to convince. This is not a realistic movie because for one thing why would a reporter wear a tight dress and high heels out on the road and how can she run fast in those heels? Can any woman out there tell me if that is possible? I am not asking for realism but something exciting could have happened. I have seen shoot outs and car chases like this before but this is a hack job. I also think Aniston's and Butler's chemistry is weak. This is a violent movie in parts and then in some parts it is a screwball comedy. The styles don't mesh and the movie has zero romance and not one laugh. I didn't even chuckle once or smile, I just yawned. Great character actors like Carol Kane, Jeff Garlin and Cathy Moriarty are wasted and there are a few scenes that are blatantly ripped off from "Midnight Run". Then there is "Saturday Night Live's Jason Sudeikis who seems to be doing a SNL skit and feels like he is in another movie. He is very unfunny, the movie is very stupid, Aniston is miscast and I almost fell asleep. You should order a extra large coke if you go see this.