'Bounty Hunter' fails to capture laughs, or anything else
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Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler share little chemistry in The Bounty Hunter.
By Barry Wetcher, Columbia Pictures

The Bounty Hunter
(out ouf four)
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Jason Sudeikis, Jeff Garlin, Cathy Moriarty
Director: Andy Tennant
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Opens today nationwide

Just whose idea of fun is it to watch two ex-spouses verbally slam each other?

But that's what The Bounty Hunter has rustled up — along with a listless rom-com, a feeble thriller and a supporting cast of clueless characters.

Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston are embroiled in a contentious round of "ex games." The overriding feeling watching these two obnoxious souls is that they deserve each other.

We never find out what drew them to each other or tore them apart, or even what they still see in each other, so it's tough to care about whether they'll reunite.

Worse, Aniston and Butler can't seem to muster any believable chemistry. A lot of mugging happens, but no magic.

Butler plays Milo Boyd, a bounty hunter and former cop who gets an assignment to round up his ex-wife, Nicole Hurly (Aniston), who failed to show up in court for a minor infraction. Suddenly, she's a wanted woman. It's a forced conceit, and so are the exasperating efforts Milo makes to ensnare Nicole. He chases her, throws her over his shoulder and locks her in his trunk. She's supposed to be a feisty and dedicated investigative reporter, but mostly she runs around in short skirts and high heels.

Ultra-broad attempts at comedy consistently fall flat as the two doggedly try to outsmart and hoodwink each other, amid knowing smirks and smug grins.

Director Andy Tennant's last effort was Fool's Gold(2008), another chemistry-free romantic comedy, starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. At least there, when you got bored of the formulaic story, you could gaze out to sea. Here, endless stretches of Jersey highway would make even Bruce Springsteen long for a rest stop.

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