* 1/2 out of *****

Movie-goers throughout the world should hire a bounty hunter to catch the makers of this movie.

The climax of The Bounty Hunter is more like a gently rolling hill, or a couple of speed bumps, than an actual building plot. Perhaps that’s why the camera pan-out and gentle fade that indicates the final scene of the movie is met not only with disappointment but also relief. It is a mediocre to bad film in every way, but hey — at least it’s consistent.

The opening scene may be the highlight of the film. The Bounty Hunter shows promise when it opens on Milo Boyd’s face, played by Gerard Butler. In fact, Butler (and his pectorals) may be the most redeeming part of the movie. As Milo is driving along the highway, smoke begins to fill the body of the car. With a look of panic on his face, Milo shouts “Nicole” and pulls over, runs to the back of his car and pops the trunk, only to be greeted with a quick punch to the groin. Milo’s ex-wife, Nicole Hurley (played by Jennifer Aniston) flees from the trunk of the car, only to be tackled a hundred feet away by Milo.

It’s not much to work with, but the movie is actually downhill from there.

The plot itself isn’t terrible, it’s just that it’s been seen before. Many, many times before. Butler and Aniston play a couple of exes who hate each other’s guts — or so we think. Nicole is a reporter who is out of jail on bail after being arrested for “assaulting an officer.” When she fails to appear in court because she follows a tip on a possible murder case, it’s up to Milo — the bounty hunter — to bring her back to jail.

If only these two knew the kind of shenanigans they would get into throughout the course of their 111-minute adventure.

Throughout the movie they confront drug rings, rough money lenders, high-speed car chases, kidnappings, and a bad guy who has a day job as a tattoo artist. The Bounty Hunter isn’t lacking in material; what is lacking is originality and a coherent plot.

In the final minutes of the film, Milo and Nicole are required to ask some tough questions: Will the bad guy win? Do they still love each other? Without giving away the ending, it’s easily said the movie is predictable from beginning to end.

In addition to a recycled plot, the audience becomes acquainted with characters who have been seen in countless movies before. In The Bounty Hunter, the characters seem to be caricatures of people rather than having any actual depth themselves. One example of this is Nicole’s mother, Kitty Hurley (Christine Baranski). She plays a sassy, male-objectifying, age-fearing mother. How many times has this character been seen before?

The cliché aspects of the movie manage to wind their way into the dialogue as well. In one particular gem of a scene, Nicole and Milo are duking it out with the bad guy, Mahler (Peter Greene), when they begin shouting such things as “That’s for calling me girl” and “That’s for shooting at my woman.”

The viewer is left wondering, “What do I get for sitting through this movie?”