Catch and Release

I saw "Catch and Release" a couple of months ago, the first screening, writer-director Susannah Grant said, of the final cut. It was a very friendly audience, but watching the movie, I couldn't help but feel Grant could have and should have done better.

The film opens promisingly, teasing us and playing with our expectations as we first see Gray (Jennifer Garner) and the circumstances she finds herself in. However, Grant never quite builds on that initial promise and soon "Catch and Release" meanders into traditional romantic comedy territory, complete with the obligatory playful and lovable sidekick - in this case, Sam (Kevin Smith) - and the friend harboring a romantic secret of his own, Dennis (Sam Jaeger).

The crux of the story is Gray's realization that her life is being turned upside down because of what she finds out about a loved one. And - I'm giving away no secrets here, because it is, after all, a romantic comedy - the blossoming romance between her and Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), who at first is seemingly wrong for her. But wanna guess if that will change?

The star of the film is undoubtedly Garner. Just as she did in "13 Going on 30" (2004), she again takes what should be a pedestrian film and boosts it considerably with her undeniable charm. She has a smile that melts the hardest heart and although "Catch and Release" can never shake its conventions, whenever the film entertains, it's mostly because of Garner. She imbues Gray with a vulnerability that's utterly convincing.

Smartly, Grant also gives Smith - essentially playing himself with cleaner language - the film's funniest lines. They're not anything novel, but it's typical Kevin Smith. She also tags on a romantic interest for Sam. It's no surprise, because Grant cannot break the shackles of the genre for something original. You can see the pairing long before it actually happens on screen.

Juliette Lewis seems an oddity in this film. I've not seen her in a film for years and her character tends to grate a bit. Lewis is a good actress, but she seems to get typecast in these off-kilter roles and there's an unmistakable sense we've seen this performance from her before.

Olyphant plays sleazy well - just watch him in the otherwise-forgettable "The Girl Next Door" (2004). In "Catch and Release," his caddish boor actually is a facade. Turns out, this chap's actually a nice guy. He has to be. After all, he has Gray to win over and Grant's doing this by-the-numbers.

And therein lies the film's problem. Despite Grant's admirable attempt to spin the romantic comedy's meet-cute moment, it's hard to believe Gray would fall for a chap who, for the lack of a better phrase, finds carnal comfort at the most unlikely occasions.

Of course, "Catch and Release" has a certain sweetness about it. How can it not when Garner's so adorable. It's polished, looks good; a cut above, say, the odd independent romcoms that tackle the trials and tribulations, the angst and adoration among a group of good friends. But it offers nothing new and relies on a few too many "movie" moments to elicit laughs. Some of those moments are funny, but you get the impression they're not exactly rooted in any realm of reality. Yet, Grant seems to want to lend her story a sense of reality, one that deals with love, loss and forgiveness.

Grant said when she recut her film, she was forced to excise some of Fritz's back story. It doesn't seem warranted, but there seems to be something missing from Fritz. We know the story's moving to get Gray and Fritz together - this is a freakin' Hollywood studio-produced romantic comedy, after all - but it all seems too orchestrated from the beginning.

Is it too much to ask a Hollywood romantic-comedy writer to be even slightly daring? Hollywood-produced romantic comedies, by their very nature, are predictable. You know going in the girl and the guy will wind up together, so it's the journey that is supposed to thrill us. Maybe even surprise us. Grant, however, chooses the safest, and therefore, least surprising, path. She hits all the points a screen writing guru without an ounce of originality would demand be seen in a romcom script. The only novelty here is that Grant got some attractive, appealing and talented actors for her directorial debut. It is they who keep this extremely conventional story from turning unbearable. Though, even Garner's considerable cuteness cannot salvage the film's ending.

She has dimples in the right places, an upper lip that looks like a hammer just hit it, and acting not always superior, but she gets the best roles Hollywood can offer a young woman. As that Julia Roberts glides into middle age, her younger version, Jennifer Garner may be the heir apparent but not for her role as the heroine of Catch and Release. Susannah Grant, who penned Julia's triumphant Erin Brockovich, tries to direct Garner as Gray Wheeler, but with much less energy and a poorer script.

Wheeler has just before the wedding lost her fiancé to a skiing accident. Not a bad premise that she discovers throughout the film more than she should about his life away from her. As she does about herself as she investigates his finances and romances. The film has nothing new to say about grief or healing, just about unchecked lusts for love and food (the latter the province of Kevin Smith, whose turn as the sloppy, overweight lovable friend, is sometimes funny, as when erotic massage therapist Maureen, played by Juliette Lewis, literally jumps his bones.

That Wheeler falls into the cute arms of Timothy Oliphant's Fritz is a given for this lightweight chick flick that would have us believe she would fall for a womanizer who scores a babe in the bathroom at the funeral while the grieving Wheeler listens aghast behind the shower curtain. That heavy-set Smith's Sam should overeat and have the best ironic comic lines could be predicted the minute you see Clerk's director on screen. That 60's Simon and Garfunkel type of music with a message should appeal to the audience of the 21st century, which may not demand character development in order to understand plot.

Catch and Release, a multiuse title referring to both the loss and a fishing motif, is a romantic comedy whose romance is low-grade (she just lost her fiancé for goodness sake) and comedy low-ball. Witnessing this failure should make you as sick as Sam after binge eating bags of potato chips.

Greetings again from the darkness. There are a few great writers. There are a few great directors. There are very few great writer/directors. Susannah Grant has been known for her strong writing of "In Her Shoes" and "Erin Brokovich". Here her first real attempt at directing is not helped by her less than inspired script.

Never really sure if it aspires to be a statement on loss and human weakness or an awkwardly tender humorous love story, the film rambles along as if every day of production was unrelated to the those previous. Jennifer Garner (fresh off birthing a real life baby) is actually at her best in the opening scenes as she grieves over the loss of her fiancé. She doesn't fare quite so well in subsequent love scenes. Timothy Olyphant ("Deadwood") spends most of the film posing and grinning (with extraordinarily white teeth) at Garner. Kevin Smith is the comic relief and the endless stream of fat jokes grows tiresome quickly. Still Smith supplies a couple of the best moments in the film. Juliette Lewis is back with her customary weirdness, this time with kid in tow.

The two best parts of the film are the few amazing shots featuring the natural beauty of Boulder, Colorado and the nice little soundtrack with some real gems. Looking more like a Lifetime movie than a Hollywood release, this one lacks substance and depth. Here's hoping Ms. Grant's ego has been fed and she returns to her talent of writing quality stories.

This movie starts with the funeral of Gray (Jennifer Garner)'s fiancé Grady. His friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant) has sex with a server. Dennis (Sam Jaeger) is insanely responsible and his other friend Sam (Kevin Smith) is having his own difficulties. But Fritz is hiding a secret. Grady has been sending $3000 a month to a woman (Juliette Lewis) in LA.

For a movie starting from a funeral, this has a lot of light hearted humor. Most of that is due to Kevin Smith's work. Writer/director Susannah Grant has put on a complicated heart warming struggle. It's not an easy subject to go from a depressed angry place. Jennifer Garner makes those parts work. The movie struggles when it gets to more traditional rom-com space. Overall there are enough interesting moments and Kevin Smith cracking jokes to make this a good movie.

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