Ghunter (2004 film)

Ghunter is a 2004 American action drama romance-comedy film based on the 1998 book "Life on Erin Street" by Lois Garfield. Written and produced by Alex Chriten, starring Matthew Lillard, Tim Allen, Ryan Renolds, Kim Krystal, James Cooper, and Mary Stuart Masterson. This film main point is to talk about High-School drop-out Ghunter Williams, recently breaking up with his now to be ex-gilrfriend, and is now having trouble with his love life. This film was produced by MGM, Revolution Studios, and Alexis/Roody Productions.

Ghunter was released to theaters by Sony Pictures Releasing (under Columbia Pictures) & distrubuted internationally by MGM Distrubution LLC on April 12, 2004. Even with it's highly mixed reviews, it was still a success, reaching $201.7 million at the Box Office, beating their $156.3 million budget.

The movie then made it's way on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (USA/Canada), then from MGM Home Entertainment LLC (Internationally) on September 6, 2005. The Blu-Ray release was only from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on February 24, 2014. A sequal was later made, titled "Getting On Ghunter" and was released on May 19, 2009.

Plot
After a recent breakup with his girlfriend, Edin Adlay. Ghunter Willams has to figure out another way to acomplish his love life. His brother Alex Williams helps him by introducing a dating app called : "It's A Match" Meanwhile, he has to live with his parents since he can't pay rent due to losing his job at Burger King. "There's more to this plot but I'm not writing that all down." -Beanieboo.2020, 2023.

Main Cast
Matthew Lillard as Ghunter Williams

Tim Allen as Alex Williams

Kim Krystal as Edin Adlay

Mary Stuart Masterson as Elisa Gerogia (Ghunter's mother)

Ryan Renolds as Jacob Winters (Ghunter's best friend)

James Cooper as Eric Williams-Gerogia (Ghunter's father)

There's additional voices, but there's too many to list.

Production
Back in 2003, Alexis/Roody Productions met Revolution Studios in the Box Office Offical Marketing Building after A/R's succession on "Bolivia 1987" (2002, with Universal Pictures) if they could create a film with them. They agreed and took that project with them to Metro Goldwyn Mayer, asking for helping on the production. MGM would later accept helping with the film and production began on September 29th, 2003. Then ended on March 31st, 2004. Columbia Pictures would handle distribution rights for the United States, and Canada. While MGM handled international distribution. The movie would have been named as the same title as the book it was based on, but later changed to it's rightful name.

Casting
The movie had a lot of trouble with getting the cast, as it took a little while, before they wrote their plot. After writing their plot, they hired Tom Kenny for the actor of Ghunter Williams, Dave Foley as Alex Williams, Wilcome James as Eric Williams-Gerogia, and every other charcters casting stayed the same as the final. The first to drop out was Dave Foley, as he wanted better roles, but they didn't have any better ones. Tom Kenny was later replaced by Matthew Lillard, since he didn't really fit the role for him. No hard feeling on him though. Wilcome James was replaced by James Cooper, due to his passing from a stroke.

Release
The movie had it's initial release in the United States on April 12th, 2004. After, Canada got it's release on April 20th, 2004. Europe and Russia got their release on April 28th, and May 2nd, 2004 respectivly.

Home Media
On September 6, 2005, Ghunter got it's DVD release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada. Then from MGM Home Entertainment internationally. There was a planned VHS release on August 23, 2005, but was later scapped due to VHS decresing in popularity over time. Being only from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the Blu-Ray was released on February 24, 2014.

Box office
The movie was succesful at the Box Office, reaching $201.7 million, beating the $156.3 million budget.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reported for their "Fresh Tomatoes" a 71%, with their average 7/10 score. Being an exemple of a good romantic film witha few side effects. Metacritic has it a 56 out of 100. based on 68 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore gave it the average grade of "B+" on a A+ to F scale.