Catch and Release

The opening scene of C&R could have been me when my best friend died. Susannah Grant (and Jennifer Garner with her tremendous acting) has put a touching visual to that permanent loss of a loved one. The coming together of these friends, each mourning in their own way and trying to figure out how to move forward, is captured with humor and at times is sadly haunting. Each character looks for a way to stay connected, despite their loss. The use of periods of silence with the camera hanging on an actor's face is effective in communicating all the subtext involved in love, loss and friendship. Although it was easy for me to connect to each character, it may not be so for everyone. There are draws in this movie for everyone, however. Kevin Smith is wonderfully funny. Timothy Olyphant is beautiful to watch and Ms. Grant has used his beauty (and his fantastically revealing facial expressions) to the film's advantage. Jennifer Garner is . . . Jennifer Garner. She's fabulous. I loved this movie and can't wait to see it again.

Is there a production company somewhere that specializes in churning out the kind of banal, unoffensive films that are frequently used as in-flight movies, and if so, is it responsible for this film?

A flight from London to Chicago happens to be where I saw this movie, and even with absolutely nothing else to do or distract me, I had trouble staying with it. "Catch and Release" isn't bad. It's too safe to be bad. Rather, it's painfully uninspired. It's the kind of movie you simply can't imagine anyone getting up the energy to make. Was there really a screen writer out there who thought this story needed desperately to be told, and actually went to the trouble to tell it? Was there really a director who decided he had to bring this story to the screen, a cinematographer who put effort into planning shots? Did any of the actors read this script and think it was a project they simply had to be involved with? Apparently, because we have the movie itself as proof that at least someone thought it was worth brining to audiences. And there are decent things about it, notably Juliette Lewis, who gives a delightful performance as a new-age hippie struggling with motherhood, who makes you wish the movie was about her every time she appears on screen. Jennifer Garner, who the movie is supposed to be about, fades into the background, because neither she as an actress nor the character as written is capable of drawing our attention to herself. The script is too timid to allow any dramatic conflict to last more than a couple of scenes, so loose ends are neatly tied up with assembly-line efficiency.

This is film-making at its most disposable.

Grade: C

Let's put it this way.... right before this movie, I had just watched 28 weeks later (highly recommend btw). It was It was one o clock in the morning, all the lights were off in my house, I was in my basement, and I was alone. There was no way I was making all the way up to my room. So I decided to stay and watch t.v. for a bit and find something cute and sweet to watch. THat is exactly what Catch and Release offered to me.

But cute and sweet are basically the only two words that I can find to correctly describe this movie. It was not good but it definitely was not bad. Its a good movie to watch when nothing else is on. Please do not waste your time and money and rent this movie but if its one o clock in the morning, you don't feel like going to bed, and nothing else is on, then I say what the heck, you might as well watch it if its on HBO or something.

A bit overlong it may be (it is), but it is very likeable. That is, if you are not fed up or generally annoyed by romantic comedies. Jennifer Garner is someone almost everyone can relate to and an indiviual that most people can fall in love with. Or at least find enchanting.

And then you have Timothy Olyphant. A really good actor, who can be tough, but also very fragile and loving. Something his character totally plays into. The cast in general is pretty good, having to keep the audiences attention for that long. It has the usual trappings of romantic movies, but that was to expect and nothing that should void the fun you can have with the movie

A romantic comedy a bit difficult to believe but with good acting and a strong song score. Jennifer Garner and Tim Olyphant were particularly strong in their roles.