Review
Action saves romantic comedy
March 26, 2010
I want to start out by stating that I had no interest in seeing this film and I am not a fan of romantic comedies, but I have to admit compared with most of the romantic comedies that I’ve seen, this film had a unique twist. The love story didn’t interest me much -- no surprise -- but the action-filled plot made things a lot more interesting. It didn’t help that I don’t particularly care for Jennifer Aniston or Gerard Butler (can’t they ever let him use his Scottish accent?).
The love story was as disgustingly predictable and uninteresting as always in romantic comedies. There was nothing spectacular about the acting by the two main stars. The most interesting and entertaining characters were the supporting actors and minor roles. Christine Baranski was uniquely delightful as Aniston’s philandering showgirl mother and SNL actor Jason Sudeikis is painstakingly memorable as the poor guy swooning over an extremely uninterested and uninteresting Aniston.
I was not impressed with Aniston’s portrayal of a journalist; although I may be a bit more critical as I am a journalism major, I don’t think she fooled many into thinking she was a reporter. Butler was reasonably convincing as a pathetic, disgruntled cop-turned-bounty hunter, but that still didn’t make the character particularly compelling. Nonetheless, the plot was actually pretty interesting.
Butler, a bounty hunter with a large amount of debt from a gambling addiction, is sent to find his ex-wife, Aniston, and bring her to jail for skipping bail on a petty criminal offense. Aniston misses her court hearing because she was preoccupied with a mysterious and conspicuous suicide case. The film is a wild goose chase of Butler running after Aniston, Aniston running after clues, and Butler being chased by the respective villains in the film. The film is rampant with action-filled sequences that distract from the boring romance.
If you like romantic comedies you might like this film, but you are just as likely to not like it. The romance is very typical of most romantic comedies, but in some ways it’s even worse than the typical film.
If you like action movies, you might appreciate the wild and crazy romp of the film, but even that isn’t too groundbreaking. If you appreciate fast-paced action romances you might enjoy this film as well. It doesn’t really offer anything too different, except combining the two genres. It’s certainly not a must see, but if you fit any of the criteria above, or are simply bored out of your mind and have nothing else to do, it’s worth renting (for a very low price).
Natalie Conrad is a junior journalism and marketing communications major and French minor. She enjoys running,reading, writing, playing guitar, and traveling.