MOVIE REVIEW: Garner worth ‘Catching,’ but you’ll probably want to ‘Release’ her afterwards
When I heard there was a film coming out with this title, I thought it was going to be about the theme of my love life.
Most of this film is just as perky and witty as its title. Jennifer Garner (“13 Going on 30”) plays the ordinary leading lady who suffers from the death of her fiance and tries to rebuild her life. She soon finds out her fiance wasn’t everything she thought he was.
Is it possible to keep learning about the love of your life even after they’re gone? Like the current of the steady Colorado River, Garner’s character learns how to forge ahead through these rocky times and move forward with her life.
“Catch and Release” brings a lot of heart to audiences. And with such potentially depressing subject matter, it manages to remain balanced between lightly fluffy and deeply meaningful.
The light, fluffy side is mostly given through the performances of Kevin Smith (“Clerks II”) as a wise-cracking slob, and Juliette Lewis (“Starsky & Hutch”) as a fling from the past. Both give pleasing, but not uproarious, comedic zing.
The deep, meaningful side is held up mostly by Garner, who breezily injects her charm and wincing facial expressions into the role. Timothy Olyphant (“Deadwood”) also helps with the serious side of things here as an unassuming ladies man.
It’s easy to figure out who will end up with whom before the end is over. And while this film sometimes loses its way with the storytelling, it has a few moments of clever sweetness. These are the moments that will get faces to smile even when a person is not aware of it.
Although it gets strong points for being so adorable, the film gets too bubble gum-ish at certain moments because of the blatant and crooked song choices. Compiling a soundtrack is a tricky thing. And sometimes those selected pieces of the puzzle just don’t fit into a film the way they should, which can make the audience’s experience confusing.
“Catch and Release” suffers from this crookedness somewhat, and it halts sympathies from growing and connecting the audience to the characters.
Even in a romance film, the audience shouldn’t have to be told how to feel. And a film shouldn’t hold their hands too much either. A smart film, a great film, will get them to figure out and decide things on their own. “Catch and Release” does not get high points for these things. But it works some magic as it keeps the audience smiling when the credits start to roll.
Written and directed by Susannah Grant (who has written the touching screenplays for “Erin Brockovich” and “In Her Shoes”), this film is a low-maintenance, lackadaisical journey about loving your friends and learning who you are.
Casey T. Allen is the Utah Statesman movie critic.
Comments, questions
and concerns can be sent to
him at caseyal@cc.usu.edu.