Richard Gere isn't exactly the first guy you picture when you think of gritty, war-torn journalism. He’s the Pretty Woman guy. He’s the silver fox. But in the hunting party movie 2007, he plays Simon Hunt, a washed-up newsman who has seen way too much blood and spent way too much time at the bottom of a bottle. It's a weird film. It’s a satire, but it’s also a thriller, and somehow, it’s a true story. Sort of.
The movie is actually based on a 2000 Esquire article titled "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" by Scott Anderson. It's about a group of real-life journalists who went to Bosnia and decided, basically on a whim, to find a high-level war criminal. They weren't soldiers. They didn't have backup. They just had a car and a lot of nerve.
People forget this movie exists. Honestly, that's a shame. It captures a very specific post-9/11 energy where the world felt chaotic and the media was trying to figure out if it was still relevant.
The Reality Behind the Fiction
In the film, Gere’s character is hunting "The Fox," a fictionalized version of Radovan Karadžić. In real life, the guys were looking for Radovan Karadžić too.
You have to understand the context of the Balkans in the late 90s and early 2000s. The war was "over," but the scars were fresh. The NATO forces and the UN were supposedly looking for these guys, but there was a lot of foot-dragging. That's the central joke of the hunting party movie 2007—that a bunch of drunk journalists could get closer to a monster than the entire international intelligence community.
Why? Because the journalists were willing to go to the bars. They talked to the locals. They didn't have a motorcade. They just looked like guys who were lost.
Director Richard Shepard, who also did The Matador, leans hard into the absurdity. He uses these title cards that pop up saying "Only the most ridiculous parts of this story are true." That’s not just a marketing gimmick. The real journalists—Scott Anderson, Sebastian Junger (who wrote The Perfect Storm), and three others—actually did get mistaken for a CIA hit squad.
Richard Gere and the Cast Dynamics
Gere is great here because he plays against his usual charm. Simon Hunt is a mess. He had a meltdown on live television years prior and has been living in the shadows ever since. He’s desperate for a comeback, but he’s also genuinely haunted.
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Terrence Howard plays Duck, his loyal cameraman who has since moved on to a cushy job in the states. Jesse Eisenberg is Benjamin, the young, naive Harvard grad and son of a network executive. It’s a classic trio.
- The Veteran: Hunt is the soul of the movie. He knows the rules and knows when to break them.
- The Pro: Duck provides the grounding. He has a life to lose.
- The Kid: Benjamin represents the audience, slowly realizing that the world is much more dangerous than a textbook.
The chemistry works because it feels frantic. They’re driving through the mountains of Bosnia and Montenegro, and you can almost smell the diesel and stale cigarettes. The movie doesn't look "pretty." It looks dusty and grey, which fits the moral ambiguity of the whole situation.
Why Nobody Talked About It
When the hunting party movie 2007 came out, it bombed. Hard. It made less than $1 million at the domestic box office.
Maybe people weren't ready for a dark comedy about war crimes. Or maybe the marketing didn't know how to sell it. Was it an action movie? A political statement? A comedy? It’s all of those, and that’s a tough sell for a Friday night at the multiplex.
Also, it was competing with a wave of "serious" Middle East war movies that were flooding theaters at the time. Movies like The Kingdom or In the Valley of Elah. People were tired of hearing about global conflict. They wanted escapism, and this movie—while funny—is deeply cynical about how the world actually works.
The Satire That Hits Too Close to Home
There is a scene where the group finally gets close to the target, and they realize that the various international agencies are actually protecting the guy because he's a useful asset or because arresting him would destabilize the peace.
That’s the "actionable" truth the movie tries to tell. It suggests that the "villains" of history are often just bureaucrats with better PR.
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The real-life journalists found that the locals knew exactly where Karadžić was. He was living in plain sight, eating at restaurants, and even published a book while he was a fugitive. The "hunt" was a farce. The movie captures that frustration perfectly. It’s about the gap between what we see on the news and what is actually happening on the ground in places like Pale or Sarajevo.
Production Details and Trivia
The filming actually took place in Bosnia and Croatia, which gives it an authenticity you can't fake on a backlot in California.
- The Locations: They used real villages that still had bullet holes in the walls.
- The Script: Shepard wrote it with a fast-paced, Sorkin-lite vibe, but with more swearing and less optimism.
- The Budget: It was a mid-budget film, around $25 million, which was a lot for an indie-feeling political thriller back then.
Interestingly, the real Radovan Karadžić was finally arrested in 2008, just a year after the movie was released. He was living in Belgrade, working as a "New Age" healer under a false name, with a giant white beard. If that had been in the movie, people would have said it was too ridiculous to be true.
Is It Worth a Re-watch?
Absolutely. If you like Three Kings or Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, this is right up your alley. It’s a movie for people who like stories about people who are bad at their jobs but good at their craft.
The hunting party movie 2007 isn't a masterpiece, but it’s an honest film. It doesn't try to make the journalists look like heroes. They are selfish, impulsive, and often terrified. They are doing it for the "story" as much as they are for "justice."
That honesty is rare.
How to Watch and What to Look For
You can usually find it on streaming platforms like Amazon or occasionally on Tubi.
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When you watch it, pay attention to the music. The score by Rolfe Kent is surprisingly jaunty for a movie about a war criminal. It emphasizes the "caper" aspect of the story. It reminds you that for the people involved, this was a bizarre adventure before it was a tragedy.
Key Takeaways for History Buffs
If you’re interested in the actual history of the Yugoslav Wars, use this movie as a jumping-off point. Read Scott Anderson's original article. Look up the "Yellow House" or the complexities of the Dayton Agreement.
The movie simplifies things—it has to—but the core message remains. The international community is often a mess of competing interests. Sometimes, the only way to get anything done is to be too dumb to know you're supposed to fail.
Next Steps for the Viewer
First, go track down the 2000 Esquire article. It’s a masterclass in long-form journalism. It provides the "flavor" that the movie tries to replicate.
Second, compare the film's portrayal of the "Fox" with the actual arrest of Karadžić. The reality was much weirder than the movie.
Third, check out Richard Shepard’s other work. He has a knack for writing about desperate men in strange situations. The Matador is a great companion piece if you want more of that dark, cynical humor.
Don't go into this expecting a standard action flick. Go into it expecting a story about how the world is broken, and how sometimes, the only response is to laugh while you're running for your life.
Practical Insight: If you are a student of journalism or film, analyze how the movie uses the "unreliable narrator" trope. Simon Hunt isn't just telling us a story; he's trying to redeem himself through the telling. That adds a layer of depth that most 2000s thrillers completely lacked. Keep an eye on the background actors, too—many of them were locals who lived through the actual siege of Sarajevo, adding a silent weight to the "ridiculous" scenes.