''The Bounty Hunter'' is a 2010 American

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

directed by Andy Tennant, starring

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress and film producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since her career ...

and

Gerard Butler Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as '' Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film '' Tomorrow Never ...

. The story centres on a

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...

hired to retrieve his ex-wife, who has skipped bail. The film was released in the United States on March 19, 2010. The film was panned by critics but was a box office success, grossing $136.3 million against a production budget of $40–45 million.

Plot

Milo Boyd, a former New York Police Department detective is now a

. His ex-wife, Nicole Hurley, is an investigative reporter who has been arrested for assaulting a police officer. Nicole receives a tip on a story, an apparent suicide that may have been a murder, she skips her bond hearing to meet her informant, causing the judge to revoke her

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...

and issue a warrant for her arrest. Just before Nicole arrives, her informant, Jimmy is kidnapped. Milo is

ecstatic Ecstasy () is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of their awareness. In classical Greek literature, it refers to removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function." Total involvement with ...

when Nicole's

bail bondsman Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries, ...

, Sid, offers him the job of bringing her to jail, for a bounty of $5,000. Nicole's mother Kitty inadvertently helps him find her at a race track in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He throws her into his trunk and drives back towards

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Nicole escapes briefly before he catches up with her. They are being stalked: Milo by two thugs sent by his bookie Irene, because of his gambling debts, Nicole by corrupt cop Earl Mahler, who is connected with the story she is investigating, and both by Nicole's lovestruck coworker Stewart, bent on rescuing her from Milo. Irene's thugs confuse Stewart for Milo and mistakenly kidnap him. Earl tries to kill Nicole, but both Milo and Nicole narrowly escape. Milo is not interested in explanations until she tells him she's found evidence that implicates their mutual friend and Milo's ex-partner on the force, Bobby, indicating that he is involved with Earl. Milo decides to investigate with her. Clues from Earl's car lead them to a country club, where they learn from a caddie that Earl owns a

tattoo parlor A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in an established business called a "tattoo shop", "tattoo studio" or "tattoo parlour". Tattoo artists usually learn their craft via a ...

in Queens, so they start to make their way there. Bobby warns them to stay off the road. The nearest hotel is the

bed and breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

where they spent their honeymoon. They discover they still have feelings for each other and admit their mistakes. Coming out of the bathroom, Nicole overhears Milo telling Sid he may sleep with her, but he's still taking her to jail. She handcuffs him to the bed and goes to the

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing ...

parlor, finding Jimmy and freeing him before being captured by Irene's thugs. Milo rescues Nicole at a strip club. Then, they hear Bobby is heading to the police's evidence warehouse, which is being relocated to a new building. Bobby confronts Earl, a former friend who has used Bobby's name to gain access to the warehouse and steal a large amount of narcotics and cash. Bobby decides to arrest him, but Earl shoots him. Milo and Nicole enter the warehouse and Milo is ambushed, but Earl surrenders when Nicole points a shotgun at him. Bobby explains Earl was using him, as well as the man who supposedly committed suicide, to gain access to the warehouse. There was no proof, so Bobby was waiting for Earl to make his move before arresting him. Milo proudly notes that Earl might have gotten away with it if Nicole hadn't picked up clues. He and Nicole appear to have reconciled. They concede that sometimes their jobs have to come first. Milo turns Nicole in to the police, so she can make her court hearing the next day. On his way out of the precinct, Milo runs into a cop who insulted him earlier and punches him in the face. He is arrested and put in the cell next to Nicole's. He reminds her that it is their anniversary and they have to spend it together. Through the bars they admit their love and kiss.

Cast

as Nicole Hurley (previously Boyd), a '' Daily News'' reporter, and Milo's ex-wife. *

as Milo Boyd, a bounty hunter, former police officer, and Nicole's ex-husband. *

Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 20 ...

as Stewart, Nicole's co-worker who has unrequited feelings for her. *

Jeff Garlin Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom ''Curb Your ...

as Sid, Milo's friend, and employer as a bail bondsman. *

Cathy Moriarty Cathy Moriarty (born November 29, 1960) is an American actress and singer whose career spans over 40 years. For her work in Martin Scorsese's 1980 film ''Raging Bull'', she received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

as Irene, a gift shop owner, and local bookmaker. *

Ritchie Coster Ritchie Coster (born 1 July 1967) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Dietrich Banning in '' The Tuxedo'' (2002), the Chechen in ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), Elias Kassar in '' Blackhat'' (2015), Mayor Austin Chessani o ...

as Ray, one of Irene's employees. * Joel Marsh Garland as Dwight, one of Irene's employees. *

Siobhan Fallon Hogan Siobhan Fallon Hogan (pronounced , born May 13, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. She has appeared in films such as ''Men in Black'', '' Forrest Gump'', ''The Negotiator'', ''Holes'', ''Daddy Day Care'', ''Going in Style'', and '' The Ho ...

as Teresa, the secretary of Sid's business. * Peter Greene as Earl Mahler, a corrupt cop. *

Dorian Missick Dorian Crossmond Missick is an American actor known for his role as Damian in the television series '' Six Degrees'' (2006) and for voicing Victor Vance in the video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories''. He is also known for his starring ...

as Bobby Jenkins,

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

detective and Milo's best friend. *

Carol Kane Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress. She became known in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as '' Hester Street'' (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), ''Dog Day Afternoon'', ''Annie ...

as Dawn, a co-owner of a bed and breakfast. * Adam LeFevre as Edmund, a co-owner of a bed and breakfast. * Adam Rose as Jimmy, a bartender. * Christine Baranski as Kitty Hurley, Nicole's mother. *

Matt Malloy Matt Malloy (born January 12, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has appeared extensively on television, film, and radio. Malloy's break-out performance was his co-starring role alongside Aaron Eckhart and Stacy Edwards in the 1997 bla ...

as Gary, a co-worker of Nicole's. *

Christian Borle Christian Dominique Borle (born October 1, 1973) is an American actor and singer. He is a two-time Tony Award winner for his roles as Black Stache in '' Peter and the Starcatcher'' and as William Shakespeare in ''Something Rotten!''. Borle also ...

as Caddie.

Production

In May 2007, it was announced Columbia acquired the then untitled bounty hunter pitch for Development with Original Film.

Release

Box office

''The Bounty Hunter'' was released alongside '' Repo Men'' and ''

Diary of a Wimpy Kid ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' is an American children’s book series and media franchise created by author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. The series follows Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler who illustrates his daily life in a diary (although he const ...

''. It grossed $20.7 million in its opening weekend. As of July 5, 2010 it has grossed $67,061,228 in North America and $69,031,265 internationally for a worldwide total of $136,333,522.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 12%, based on 150 reviews, and an average rating of 3.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston remain as attractive as ever, but ''The Bounty Hunter''s formula script doesn't know what to do with them – or the audience's attention." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 22 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, commenting that "neither niston nor Butleris allowed to speak more than efficient sentences to advance the plot" and that it is rife with "exhausted action clichés."

A.O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis. Early life Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' gave the film a completely negative review and said it was rated

PG-13 The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...

for "witless sexual innuendo and witless violence." Kerry Lengel of ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'' gave the film three and a half stars out of five: "As formula films go, ''The Bounty Hunter'' is more enjoyable than most, even if it packs in as many clichés as any." However, Lengel did praise Aniston's and Butler's performances, but was critical of the "improbable" plot.

Accolades

Home media

''The Bounty Hunter'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and Blu-ray Disc on July 13, 2010. The only extra material is three featurettes ("Making The Bounty Hunter", "Rules for Outwitting a Bounty Hunter", and "Stops Along the Road: Hunting Locations"). The film grossed $23,310,266 from DVD sales in North America.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bounty Hunter 2010 films 2010 action comedy films 2010 crime action films 2010 romantic comedy films 2010s comedy road movies 2010s crime comedy films 2010s English-language films 2010s romantic action films American action comedy films American comedy road movies American crime action films American crime comedy films American romantic action films American romantic comedy films Columbia Pictures films Films about journalists Films directed by Andy Tennant Films produced by Neal H. Moritz Films scored by George Fenton Films set in Brooklyn Films set in New Jersey Films shot in Atlantic City, New Jersey Films shot in New York City Original Film films Relativity Media films Romantic crime films Works about bounty hunters 2010s American films