Catch and Release
Rated: PG-13 This film is an imitation of life. It’s like going to a wax museum. Despite the stunning likeness, up close and over time, you realize that this figure is dull, lifeless, and will melt if some joker messes with the thermostat. Gray (Jennifer Garner) has just lost her fiancée Grady. His death prompts a re-evaluation of her life and the life of her friends as secrets about Grady’s life come to the surface and everyone is richer for the experience. At least, that seems to be the idea. Unfortunately, Catch and Release works on general emotions and is a concept that might work as an Everwood-like drama on a netlet, but the constraints of a feature film shine a bright, hot, melty light on the film and leaves only warm, messy, goop. 
Gray strikes up a romantic relationship with Grady’s sleazy-charming friend Francis (Timothy Olyphant). It’s a romantic relationship because they sleep together and smile coyly at one another. Things like chemistry, establishing scenes, and working at an actual romance didn’t seem to make the final cut (or the script). By failing to sell the relationship between Gray and Francis, their affair seems like nothing more than a short-lived rebound that will soon end after the credits roll. There are also kooky friends Sam (Kevin Smith) and Dennis (Sam Jaeger). If you’ve seen An Evening with Kevin Smith, you’ve seen Sam and you know that Smith is playing himself. If you only know him as Silent Bob, then you’ll probably recognize him as the heart of the picture and appreciate his comic cadence. Dennis has a crush on Gray but only shows it a couple times. The rest of the time, he’s either quarreling with Sam (unfortunately Smith doesn't realize he’s devouring each scene and leaving Jaeger to twist in the wind) or trying to act cutesy with Grady’s secret mistress (Juliette Lewis, playing ditzy—shock, shock) and her four-year-old spawn. On a longer timeline, characters like these could get the development they sorely need. But constrained by a two-hour runtime and a script that doesn’t have the economy to say a lot with just a little, all these characters feel broad and obvious in a film that desperately needs them to be real and relatable. Words by |