To celebrate this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class, I’d like to call your attention to a recent film starring one of the inductees. No, not In the Land of Merry Misfits (2007) starring Bob Backlund alongside the likes of John Waters. Yes, it’s a real thing. No, I haven’t seen it yet, but I hope to track it down. The film I’m referring to today would be Bounty Hunters (2012), starring my favorite lady rassler and a former leading candidate for the role of my life partner, Trish Stratus. Turns out she’s a passable actress, and even if she wasn’t, I’d certainly still watch. I might even prefer it that way, truth be told. However, this flick was a clumsy mess. The inadequate, cramped cinematography felt like the picture was cropped in a lot of scenes, thus depriving the audience of both action and already-scarce eye candy from the fighting female characters. Indeed, Trish doesn’t show much at all of her near-flawless physique, even in scenes where you might expect it. Note to director: if you’re gonna make an exploitation flick, don’t be afraid to exploit a little! However, this modesty did not extend to the other women in the film, as there was gratuitous, irrelevant background nudity to be had at some points. Add to that a goofed-up plot that leaves far too much to the imagination (Trish’s invisible daughter and mysterious injuries come to mind), to the morally dubious and rather dumb protagonists, to Trish’s hair that seemed to change color between shots, and it’s about what you’d expect from a direct-to-video Canadian low-budget flick starring a WWE Diva. Stunt work was certainly solid, though, with Trish using her favorite wrestling maneuvers on most of the bad guys. Would like to see her perhaps in Expendables 3 or some other film that utilizes her more effectively. However, I suspect motherhood will prevent her from doing so in the near future, as it should. So we may have to wait a few years to see Trish on the big screen again, but when we do, I hope she does it right.
