Review of Catch and Release (2006) by Jjuulliieett R — 11 Jun 2017

After the sudden death of her fiancé, Gray Wheeler (Jennifer Garner) finds comfort in the company of his friends: lighthearted and comic Sam (Kevin Smith), hyper-responsible Dennis (Sam Jaeger), and, oddly enough, his old childhood buddy Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), an irresponsible playboy whom she'd previously pegged as one of the least reliable people in the world. As secrets about her supposedly perfect fiancé emerge, Gray comes to see new sides of the man she thought she knew, and at the same time, finds herself drawn to the last man she ever expected to fall for...

With some classic rom com ingredients,"Catch & Release" still ends up as something else or different for that matter. The dark moments of the film is not in balance with the humour in the film, and it becomes neither a comedy nor a black comedy. Whats is it? Jennifer Garner is however great as Gray. With her loveable charm and that radiant smile of hers you become smitten in an instant as she convince you of Gray´s vulnerability and sometimes a bit too spontaneous actions. Kevin Smith is the comic sidekick and what can you say except that he does Kevin Smith, Timothy Olyphant is the so called sleaze bag and he manages to balance his bad guy part with what Fritz really is while Juliette Lewis plays yet again a slightly stupid new agey redneck kind of girl. The focus on love, loss and forgiveness is alright and it´s a conventional story, but the script and the direction can´t make its mind up of what sort of film "Catch & Release" should be. It´s just too scattered and there´s bits missing to help explain several questions. However, I did enjoy the lovely Jennifer Garner´s participation in this film.