Columbia Pictures presents Catch & Release. Written by Susannah Grant. 112 minutes. Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and some drug use.
Directed By:
Susannah Grant
Cast:
Jennifer Garner. Gray Wheeler
Timothy Olyphant. Fritz
Sam Jaeger. Dennis
Kevin Smith. Sam
Juliette Lewis. Maureen
Joshua Friesen. Mattie
Fiona Shaw. Mrs. Douglas
The Film:
Sometimes there is something worse than a bad movie, and that is a bland movie. Catch And Release is a harmless vanilla film about Gray (Garner), a woman whose fiancé has just died. Now she’s hanging out with all her dead fiancés friends, cause apparently she has no friends of her own. These three friends are very cliché: Fritz (Olyphant) – the jerk friend who turns out not to be such a jerk, the token fat friend Sam (Smith), who always has food in his mouth and makes a joke of everything, and Dennis (Jaeger), the friend who’s always had a crush on Gray.
During this time of mourning Gray learns that her dead fiancé had a mistress (Lewis) and a kid! On top of that, Gray starts to fall for Fritz and Sam gets so depressed he takes all of Gray’s pills; pretty heavy stuff. Too bad the biggest problem with this film is that it attempts to tackle these dark subjects while keeping the film light and fluffy. It’s subject matter does have something to say, it ultimately fails in saying it.
The only remotely entertaining part of this film is Mr. Kevin Smith. That is if you enjoy Smith playing Smith. It seems Smith was allowed to write most if not all his own dialogue or at least ad-lib a whole lot. His somewhat witty banter keeps most of the slower parts of the film moving.
Jennifer Garner isn’t a bad actress but a limited one, and when the film attempts to reach those few heavy moments, Garner just doesn’t seem to be able to reach the emotional level needed to make the scene believable. She’s cute in cotton candy fare like 13 Going on 30 and needs to learn her limitations as an actress.
Another knock against the movie is Juliette Lewis, who’s acting range seems limited to pretty much one character: Juliette Lewis. If you’ve Seen Old School, you begin to wonder if she’s not playing the exact same character. There is a lot going on with her character Maureen and a more capable actress might have brought that out.
This is Susannah Grant’s first outing as a director; she’s had a lot of success as a writer, penning such films as Erin Brockovich, In Her Shoes and most recently Charlotte’s Web. Her directing isn’t bad per se, but nothing special. The whole film on every level is very run of the mill.
Somehow the drama is spread over two hours, and it’s a surprise it’s a minute passed 90 minutes. Too many unnecessary scenes padding the story, thus dragging it to its feet.
Catch & Release isn’t a bad movie. There are enough entertaining moments to keep it from dropping into the doldrums, but it is seriously lacking in many elements needed to elevate to something worthwhile. If you’re a Kevin Smith fan it’s worth checking it if only for his scenes, however anyone else will pretty much be bored and feel like they’ve wasted two hours.
Sam and Dennis practice their street fishing.
The DVD:
The Video:
The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen 2.40:1 and full screen 1.33:1. As a first-time director Grant plays it really safe and does nothing visual interesting. All the montages are very predictable.
The Audio:
The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound in this movie is fine. However, it’s chock full of really bad rock songs that are very distracting to the movie.
Extras:
Audio Commentary with Susannah Grant and Kevin Smith: This isn’t so much a commentary on the film as it is Kevin Smith interviewing Susannah Grant about her career. Eventually they get to talking about the film itself. This is pretty interesting for anyone looking to take a stab at a career in screenwriting. Anyone else might not find it so interesting. Annoyingly, some of the cussing is beeped out and you know how much Kevin cusses.
Audio Commentary with Susannah Grant and cinematographer John Lindley: MAN! Talk about boring. Sure they talk about the making of the film, but when it’s that dry and bland who cares? It’s pretty much impossible to sit through two hours of this. Good luck if you want to try.
The Inside Pulse
This is a very bland uninspired film with a few humorous moments thrown to almost make it worth watching. Kevin Smith is entertaining playing himself and pretty much the only reason to waste two hours on this.
