AKA Bail Enforcers.
Apparently, Trish Stratus (who gets the lead role in this movie) is a former 7 time WWE women’s champion. I didn’t know this. I hadn’t even heard of Trish Stratus before seeing her in this movie. As you may have guessed, I just don’t watch wrestling. So perhaps wrestling fans can take my review and rating and add a bit of goodwill and one point.
Anyway, let’s not dwell on the wrestling prowess of the leading lady for now and actually get a description of the plot here. Stratus plays Jules, an attractive and tough woman who is both a bounty hunter and, of course, an occasional stripper (don’t get too excited if you’re a BIG fan, she plays one of those movie strippers who wears a schoolgirl outfit type of thing but never actually strips, natch). Her two main colleagues are the tough and reliable Ridley (played by Frank J. Zupancic) and the young and cocky Chase Thomson (played by Boomer Phillips). These bounty hunters always do well, they always get results and they always play by the rules. Until the one night that they don’t. Then everything starts going horribly wrong.
Let’s be honest here, I don’t think that anyone expects a movie promoting a female wrestler in the starring role to be very good. No offence intended to Trish Stratus, WWE fans have seen many movies pushed as star vehicles for their favourite wrestlers (of either gender) and many of those movies have been pretty poor. The fact that Bounty Hunters actually entertains and raises a smile or two is a pleasant surprise.
The script by Reese Evenshen has a few funny lines dotted here and there (most of them given to Boomer Phillips, the most entertaining of the cast members) and the direction by Patrick McBrearty works just perfectly for the simple nature of the material. A couple of the action scenes are satisfying and Trish Stratus herself is attractive, sassy and far from incapable of handling such a sexy and tough role.
The acting from the leads does the job – Stratus, Zupancic and Phillips getting on well together and providing a decent chemistry. Sadly, the same can’t be said of the main baddies. Joe Rafla never seems to pose any real threat though Christian Bako, Andrea James Lui and Richard Ha grab one or two opportunities to look cool while upsetting the bounty hunters.
It’s a shame that Bounty Hunters just doesn’t have the energy and resources to push ever so slightly higher in aim and execution because, considering the type of film it is, it’s a solid outing that just stops short of turning into something that could grow and grow its fanbase.
Bounty Hunters storms onto shiny disc on February 20th, sadly lacking in any extra features for anyone hoping to see more from Trish Stratus.
DIRECTOR: PATRICK MCBREARTY
WRITER: REESE EVENSHEN
STARS: TRISH STRATUS, FRANK J. ZUPANCIC, BOOMER PHILLIPS, JOE RAFLA, CHRISTIAN BAKO, ANDREA JAMES LUI, RICHARD HA, ENRICO DIFEDE
RUNTIME: 80 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: CANADA
Film Rating: 
DISC Rating:
