Friday, March 19, 2010
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Friday, March 19, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
The Bounty Hunter
I Want My Effing Life Back!!
(Well, um, 2 hours of it.)
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler in the comedy "The Bounty Hunter", which
opened across the U.S. and Canada today.
Sony Pictures
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Friday, March 19, 2010
Why do March 2010 movie releases from Hollywood hate their audiences so much?
If watching "The Bounty Hunter" feels like being in "Jeopardy" (and it does),
the question would be, "why?"
As in, why watch Andy Tennant's film?
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler are paired as ex-spouses (imagine if Brad
Pitt was Butler's character) in this film, which takes place over roughly 24
hours in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Milo (Butler), a deposed
NYPD officer, is a bounty hunter these days. He'll be five grand richer if
he can reel in Nicole (Aniston), who apparently is a felon for some very
nebulous reason that is later revealed.
Much of this mess is littered with the detritus of failed comedies past.
Mr. Tennant, who directed the mega-hit "Hitch" several years ago, has crafted
one of the year's laziest, haziest disasters. The audience is literally
held hostage by a film that is as empty as yesterday's mailbox. Mr. Butler
is officially on a downward trend since "P.S. I Love You", making very suspect
films ("Law Abiding Citizen"), so-so films ("Rock N
Rolla", "Gamer") and bad ones ("The Ugly Truth").
Hopefully his agent and Miss Aniston's will see the light and get them some
decent films to appear in. When will Miss Aniston get to do the kind of great
work she did in "The Good Girl" again?
As written by Sarah Thorp (last I checked, a woman), "The Bounty Hunter" is as
misogynistic and insulting as movies get, and Miss Aniston, whose career in bad
movies has skyrocketed ever since "The Break-Up" (which I actually liked) --
does her best to play along with the self-degradation, grabbing her own breasts,
parading around in a super-tight black mini-skirt and three-inch high heels like
a brainless robot on auto-pilot. She is also dumped into the trunk of a
car.
In other words: you're supposed to think that Nicole is property. A comedy
like this isn't comedy. It's piss-poor putrid.
Had this film been remade as a movie-of-the-week serial killer flick, some of
the self-hatred you see here may have some context. Maybe.
Haphazardly constructed, the pieces just don't fit. A sub-plot from
nowhere is thrown in to substantiate the film's near-two hour running time,
which is far too long. In fact, there's no real plot, except to fill an
incomprehensible script with people we don't care about, as they lamely try one
gag after another only to find: the gags don't work. Ignoring Einstein's
advice, the players just keep going, remaining unfunny in the process. Mr.
Butler and Miss Aniston are in one knock-down, drag-out, mean-spirited and
heartless routine after another. Almost every scene in this pernicious and
misanthropic film exists solely for self-mocking purposes.
Just as bad is that "The Bounty Hunter" is populated by cardboard caricatures
played by 50-something-ish women (welcome back Carol Kane, Cathy Moriarty,
Christine Baranski and Siobahn Fallon) all of whom are one-dimensional and
loopy, whether they be self-centered, empty-hearted sadists, nags or just plain
foolish.
There has to be a hall of shame for talented actors and actresses who find
themselves in comedies as pathetic as this. The shame hall's filling up
fast this month.
With: Dorian Missick, Peter Greene, Jeff Garlin, Matt Malloy, Jason Sudeikis,
David Constabile, Adam Rose, Gio Perez, Joel Garland, Mike Sheehan.
"The Bounty Hunter" is rated PG-13 for sexual content including
suggestive comments, language and some violence.
The film's duration is one hour and 50 minutes.
FOLLOW
Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
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