Reel Critics:

Romantic comedies seem to be Hollywood’s primary repository for mindless mush. “The Bounty Hunter” is the latest manifestation of this theory.

Director Andy Tenant follows up his vapid effort in “Fool’s Gold” with this tedious and lackluster production. It wastes the talents everyone involved.

Lovely Jennifer Aniston parades her perky self across the screen to collect another nice paycheck without any real acting required.

She’s a TV news reporter on the trail of big story. She’s so busy she misses a court date for a traffic ticket. The judge issues a bench warrant for her arrest, and the foolish games begin.

Gerard Butler plays her ex-husband and a disgraced former cop. He’s been reduced to chasing bail jumpers for a living.

When he gets the assignment to go after her, of course he leaps at the chance. Everything that follows is predictable, pointless and without any redeeming social value. The two of them manage to turn themselves into cartoon cutouts of real people as the nonsense unfolds.

There are a few mildly amusing moments. But they are small compensation for nearly two hours of childish antics you must endure to get to the end of this very forgettable film.

Eerie mystery shows promise

If you like to wrap your head around a really good mystery, then you must see “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” This Swedish thriller, based upon a best- selling novel, is so engrossing you’ll soon forget you’re reading subtitles.

Elsbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is a professional hacker who takes an unusual interest in an investigative journalist just convicted of libel.

With six months to kill before his sentence begins, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is hired by the patriarch of a huge family business to take another look into the disappearance of his niece 40 years ago.

As Elsbeth says, “Everybody has secrets” and we never learn much about hers.

Tiny, tattooed and something of a toxic avenger, she is an enigma to Mikael and to the audience.

As the two of them delve deeper and deeper into a tangle of horrors, it is always Elsbeth who is the real mystery.

This is not for the faint of heart — think of “Silence of the Lambs” against gorgeous frozen landscapes.

But at the center of the deeply disturbing plot there does lurk a glimmer of redemption, if not forgiveness, in the heart of our little leading lady.

This is the first of a trilogy, and I cannot wait for the next installment.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.