Christmas Bounty 2013 (Movie Review)


Dir: Gil Junger
Starring: Francia Raisa, Mike Mizanin
Dur: 1 hr 30 mins
Genre: Action-Comedy
Rating: 2.5/5
PG: A few kisses and sexual innuendoes.

Christmas is a time of fun, frolic and gifts. Well, it’s also a time for thieves to make quick money. This is no run-of-the-mill cops and robbers story. It’s a story about bounty hunters. I don’t think they exist but they sure make interesting characters. If I may say at the outset, the story is a bit weird. The story, however, although a bit forced has a finger of comedy.

The Bells are a bounty hunting family. They are a trio of father, mother and daughter. They are assisted by two men who have become adopted family. Tory (Francia Raisa), has left home quite awhile ago in order to pursue a dream she though would bring her happiness, and allow her to get away from her past. Her boyfriend’s marriage proposal brings her back home to the life she abandoned but never forgot. Soon after returning back, she is allured back to bounty hunting (a passion as she slowly discovers) but tries her best to hide it from James (Will Greenberg), her fiance. James’ innocence is taken advantage of and he is kidnapped by a criminal who is looking to get even with Tory for busting him before. The action is quite artificial and the dialogues are mediocre. The comedy keeps the film afloat but it doesn’t have much buoyancy. Slowly, Tory realizes that her ‘old’ life wasn’t as bad as she thought and that she preferred being her wild, free self. The ending is a bit ambiguous and ambivalent. The message isn’t clear. A plus point is that there is very little, if I recall correctly, foul language used, but that along with a few other positives isn’t much to look out for. 

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