Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler), a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, gets his dream job when he is assigned to track down his bail-jumping ex-wife, reporter Nicole Hurly (Jennifer Aniston). He thinks all that's ahead is an easy payday, but when Nicole gives him the slip so she can chase a lead on a murder cover-up, Milo realizes that nothing ever goes simply with him and Nicole. The exes continually one-up each other - until they find themselves on the run for their lives. They thought their promise to love, honor and obey was tough - staying alive is going to be a whole lot tougher. Andy Tennant (Hitch) directs.
In the bouncy romantic comedy
The Bounty Hunter, Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler aim to be a contemporary Nick and Nora for an audience that's never even heard of
The Thin Man. Ex-cop-turned-bounty hunter Milo Boyd (Butler,
300) is ecstatic when he gets his new assignment: his ex-wife, reporter Nicole Hurley (Aniston), has skipped bail to pursue a breaking story. Naturally, when he catches her, he also gets caught up in the mystery--though the mystery is really just an excuse for quirky comic bickering between the estranged lovebirds. Refreshingly, the script has the kind of off-beat rhythms and flavors of comedy-action flicks like
Midnight Run,
Out of Sight, and
Something Wild, and the supporting cast (featuring Christine Baranski,
Mamma Mia!; Peter Greene,
Pulp Fiction; Jeff Garlin,
Curb Your Enthusiasm; Siobhan Fallon,
Saturday Night Live; Cathy Moriarty,
Raging Bull; and beloved character actress Carol Kane) is a colorful collection of great faces and pungent personalities. It's unfortunate that the leads are a tad bland; Aniston and Butler aren't bad, but they don't have the snap, crackle, and pop that the movie craves. Nonetheless,
The Bounty Hunter rises above the average Hollywood rom-com.
--Bret Fetzer Stills from The Bounty Hunter (Click for larger image) 
