The Bounty Hunter

     For my first film I know I could've gone with something more dramatic to grab my potential reader's attention, maybe a classic horror flick or one of those epic trilogies that are collecting dust on the bookshelf. But I had a craving for a light rom-com (romantic comedy) so I grabbed Andy Tennant's 2010 The Bounty Hunter.
     What really drew me to buy this movie in the first place, to be quite honest, was the picture on the cover. I know you cant judge a book by its cover but when I saw that Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler were in this movie I just couldn't resist. I absolutely adore Jennifer Aniston, especially since I finally stopped seeing her as one of my beloved Friends. She's a great comedic actress and fits well into the role of Nicole Hurley, an ambitious reporter who's traffic ticket snowballs into a bench warrant when she skips her bail hearing to chase down a lead on a new story. While I wouldn't have necessarily chosen Gerard Butler as her ex-cop turned bounty hunter ex-husband, he did a relatively good job. Personally I missed his extremely thick Scottish accent and there's something about him, maybe his ripped, buff physique that makes me want to petition Hollywood to only have him in shirtless roles. His accent still seeps through at times but its forgivable and boy are his eyes incredibly blue!
     Rounding out the cast are Siobhan Fallon Hogan as the bail bonds secretary (yes the woman from the beginning of the first MIB), Jason Sudeikis as Nicole's office stalker Stewart and my personal favorite, the one and only Christine Baranski. I was also excited to see Cathy Moriarty in this flick as well. You may remember her as the husky-voiced Carrigan Crittenden from Casper.
    This film has an almost over-abundance of sarcastic, witty dialogue to the point that it precariously balances on the tip-top of the fence between okay and too much. Almost every word spoken is purely in the interest of advancing the confusing plot that steamrolls the romantic and the comedy aspects of the film. The soundtrack is great though and tossing in the Bee Gees was a nice touch. Aniston's boobs look fantastic in the little black dress they have her wearing for almost the entire movie and Butler has a charming, good-boy quality that makes his performance less annoying. Halfway through the movie the plot snags like a sweater on a nail and ends up shredded. The final act isn't so much a conclusion as an abrupt ending. I think that you could give the script to two writers and have them embellish each plot line into two separate movies.
     All in all, if you can forgive it it's shortcomings, this isn't a terrible movie. I would probably watch it again when I'm in the mood for something silly with an interesting collection of actors that unexpectedly fit well together. I certainly don't foresee it being one of my must-see favorites but for a delivery pizza kinda date night, it's alright.

3/5 stars