Screen chemistry is such an elusive elixir.
Sometimes it can be gloriously faked by co-stars who despise each other. Often, the real thing can look tinny and false.
Consider “The Marrying Man,” “Gigli” and “Eyes Wide Shut.”
Now, you can add “The Bounty Hunter” to that inglorious grouping.
The new rom-com stars Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston, an off-screen couple according to Tabloid Nation despite their denials. But they can’t send off a single spark in this mundane romp.
Milo (Butler) and Nicole (Aniston) recently split after a short but stormy marriage.
He got himself kicked off the force and now works as a bleary eyed bounty hunter. She suffered no such career hiccup – she’s still an ace reporter at the New York Daily News.
Their paths cross when Nicole skips a court appearance and gets an arrest warrant for her troubles. And Milo’s boss (Jeff Garlin) reluctantly gives him the assignment to bring her in.
Naturally the two fuss and fight during this strained reunion, but Nicole stays laser focused on a possible scoop involving a crooked cop.
Aniston, wearing a series of Ally McBeal length skirts, is hardly believable as a hard-nosed scribe. But that’s not what “The Bounty Hunter” is on the prowl to find. It’s in the now-standard mold of movies in which the protagonists declare their hatred for each other until the bickering couple realizes they might still belong together.
It’s a tricky stunt to pull off, and “The Bounty Hunter” barely attempts to pull the wool over our eyes.
Instead, we get one uninspired set piece shoveled atop another, each revealing just how hard it is to pull off this rom com formula.
A special screen punishment should go to the film soley for including a lazy gambling scene which exists to nudge the story along. You can predict every roll of the dice. Yawn
“The Bounty Hunter” teases us with potentially lip smacking characters, from Cathy Moriarity as an unhinged gambling matriarch to the reliably goofy Garlin as Milo’s put-upon boss. But none of them have enough screen time to leave a mark.
That’s inversely true of our attractive leads.
Yes, Butler still has a Bowflex body to die for, and Aniston looks as if she stepped out of a Pilates infomercial. But Butler is grating when he isn’t being acutely annoying, and Aniston can’t make Nicole anything but a beautiful cipher.
“The Bounty Hunter” gives audiences the chance to ogle to supremely attractive stars. Those looking for more than that will be better served flipping through US Weekly.
(Photo: Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler play feuding exes in “The Bounty Hunter.”/Sony Pictures)
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks are bankable. Was channel surfing Friday and noticed an E! channel special devoted to Aniston’s career. The program reminded me that her (only?) acclaimed role beyond ‘Friends’ was ‘The Good Girl’. Have never watched that one, but I thought she added the necessary pathos and tension to ‘Bruce Almighty’.
I think of her as a female Tom Cruise – satisfying and entertaining when mixed into an ensemble cast, as Cruise was in ‘Jerry McGuire’.
I guess you really can’t fake the funk, but isn’t that what actors are supposed to do?