5 / 10
The Bounty Hunter is a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler that everyone involved hoped would land more cleanly than it did. Andy Tennant directed it. Butler plays Milo Boyd, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter who is hired to bring in his ex-wife, the journalist Nicole Hurly, played by Aniston, after she skips bail. Most of the film is Milo hauling Nicole around New York and Atlantic City in handcuffs while she keeps trying to investigate the murder story that got her in trouble in the first place. The film made approximately one hundred and thirty-six million dollars worldwide on a forty million dollar budget. The reviews were uniformly bad.
The film has aged into a curiosity rather than a classic. The chemistry that the studio assumed would carry the film between two charming leads never quite materialized. Aniston and Butler had different comedic energies that did not blend. The script never figured out whether it was a romance, a thriller, or a slapstick comedy. The audience got pieces of each without enough of any.
The Premise Problem
A bounty hunter chasing his ex-wife is structurally workable. The film could have been a Romancing the Stone-style adventure with the ex-spouse dynamic providing the comedy. The film could have been a darker exploration of divorce with the chase as backdrop. The film could have been an actual thriller with the relationship as B-plot. The script tries to be all three and resolves into none.
The murder mystery Nicole is investigating gets resolved almost as an afterthought. The romantic reconciliation between her and Milo is signaled rather than earned. The slapstick set pieces involving the handcuffs do not generate the laughs the staging suggests they should. The film is a collection of competently shot scenes that do not add up to a working film.
For Writers
A script that tries to be three genres at once usually succeeds at none. The Bounty Hunter wanted to be a romantic comedy, a thriller, and a slapstick comedy in the same hundred minutes. The audience could not tell which genre’s pleasures to expect at any given moment. The lesson is that genre is a contract with the reader. Pick one primary genre and let the others be secondary flavors. Trying to deliver multiple genres at full strength usually produces work that satisfies no genre’s audience.
Aniston and Butler
Jennifer Aniston had been one of the most marketable rom-com leads in Hollywood since Friends ended in 2004. Gerard Butler had broken through as a leading man in 300 (2006) and was working through what kind of star he wanted to be. The casting was an attempt to combine her romantic-comedy bankability with his action-leading-man energy. The combination did not work because Aniston’s specific comedic timing and Butler’s specific action-leading-man timing were calibrated for different films.
Aniston is good in scenes that allow her to be witty and grounded. Butler is good in scenes that allow him to be charming and physical. The script does not give either performer enough scenes in their preferred register. Both leads spend most of the runtime in the other’s preferred register, where neither is at their strongest. The result is two performers doing professional work that does not match the work either is best at.
For Writers
Casting is most effective when the script plays to each performer’s strengths. The Bounty Hunter cast two strong leads in roles that did not suit either of them. The lesson is that casting decisions should follow script choices rather than the other way around. If your script needs a specific kind of performer, find that performer. If you cast first and adjust the script to fit, you usually weaken both the script and the performer’s work.
What the Film Has Going For It
The film is not unwatchable. Aniston and Butler are individually charming even when the script does not give them anything to work with. The Atlantic City sequences have some decent location energy. The supporting cast includes Christine Baranski as Nicole’s mother, who is in her standard late-career mode and is funny in the few scenes she has. The cinematography by Oliver Bokelberg is competent.
The film functions as background viewing. If you have it on while doing something else, it provides ambient rom-com texture without demanding your attention. This is a damning faint compliment. Films designed to demand attention should be more rewarding to attention than this one is.
For Writers
Watchable but unmemorable is a real category of cinema and it is not a category writers should be aiming for. The Bounty Hunter is in this category. It can be watched without active suffering. It does not reward active attention. The lesson is that producing work the audience does not actively hate is a low bar. The work should produce a reason to remember it. If the audience cannot articulate why your work mattered, the work probably did not matter.
Craft Note
The Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston motel-room argument scene is the film’s central chemistry test. The dialogue plays through one extended sequence in which both performers have to communicate accumulated history through their fight. The sequence demonstrates the romantic comedy’s central craft requirement: the leads need to be able to hate each other convincingly before the script can earn the resolution.
The Verdict
5/10. A commercial success that has not aged into a beloved property. Aniston and Butler do not have the chemistry the casting assumed they would. The script does not commit to a primary genre. Skip unless you specifically want competent background viewing.
FAQ
Was it really a commercial success?
Yes. The film made over one hundred and thirty-six million worldwide despite poor reviews. Audiences in 2010 still showed up for romantic comedies with star casting.
Is it as bad as the reviews said?
It is not as bad as the worst reviews suggested. It is not as good as the casting promised. It is in the middle.
Did Aniston and Butler get along?
Reportedly yes. The chemistry that the film required did not transfer to screen, but the working relationship was professional.
How does it compare to Aniston’s other rom-coms?
Below The Break-Up (2006). Below Marley & Me (2008). Above some of her later vehicle pieces.
How does it compare to Butler’s career?
Below 300. Below Olympus Has Fallen. The Bounty Hunter was one of Butler’s attempts at the romantic-comedy lead that did not establish him in the genre.
Who is Andy Tennant?
American director with rom-com credits including Ever After (1998), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), and Hitch (2005). The Bounty Hunter is among his weaker work.
Should I watch this?
Only if you have already exhausted better rom-coms in your library.