The Bounty Hunter

Directed by Andy Tennant. Starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Jason Sudeikis, Christine Baranski 12A cert, gen release, 110 min

THERE COMES a point in almost everyone’s career when the novelty of the job wears out and work becomes an appallingly tedious chore. You drag yourself painfully into the office and reluctantly force your body to perform the necessary motions. Here’s a report. Here’s a hole-punch. Clunk! Here’s the gherkin. Here’s the partly completed hamburger. Squelch! Here’s Gerard Butler’s enormous head. Here’s a conveniently located giant vase. Smash!

If Jennifer Aniston – actually a pretty gifted comic actor – were chewing gum and talking to her boyfriend on the phone throughout this terrible film, she could not look significantly less enthusiastic. I’ve seen toll-booth attendants bring greater passion to the shrugged acceptance of a flung €1 coin.

Still, you can hardly blame Aniston. Dialogue doesn't come much more hackneyed than the farrago of Proterozoic quips that characterise this shameless reimagining of Midnight Runas a romantic comedy. Here's all you need to know.

There is, as feared, a scene in which the central couple (Butler’s a bounty hunter; Aniston’s both his former wife and current prisoner) stumble unamusingly over their improvised responses to an undesired interrogation. “We’re from Okla . . . ” “We’re from Calif . . . ” “We’re from Oklafornia.” That sort of thing. You see? The screenwriter isn’t trying.

Director Andy Tennant – he of the wretched Fool's Gold– is lying (me so sleepy) in the town square with a sombrero tipped over his head. The cameraman can barely be bothered to keep his equipment upright. The comedy villains (all funny hats and frustrated growls) appear to have prepared for their roles by watching an episode or two of Top Cat.

Sadly, the only person putting in a modicum of effort is the windy, burping, potato-headed Butler. It’s really heartbreaking to watch. You get a sense of the unpopular kid at school trying far too hard while playing fourth shepherd in a doomed school nativity play. I hope someone brought Gerard out for sausages and chips afterwards.