Catch and Release (2006)

Despite being quite predictable, "Catch & Release" manages to be one of the most enjoyable films so far this year. It is by no means amazing, but it will no doubt ensure that you leave the theaters with a smile on your face.

Jennifer Garner is perfectly cast as Grey, a woman who loose her fiancé just days before the wedding. As she grieves, she learns several surprising facts regarding her old lover's past - all of which will keep you entertained. Juliette Lewis and Kevin Smith guest star, both as enjoyable (and sometimes hilarious!) characters, that will keep the audience hooked.

All-in-all, "Catch & Release" is a quick-paced, light-hearted, romantic comedy, which chronicles love, loss, and finding love again. HIGHLY recommended!

Fmovies: Film is a schizophrenic hodge-podge of elements from chick flick sentimentality and a frat beer drinking party sideshow. The attempt to mix the two is handled with little cohesion, and never seals the deal for either audience (and certainly falls short of appealing to both, which is what it seems to want).

We meet a grieving woman (Jennifer Garner) who was engaged, but her fiancé dies just before the wedding. That would seem to be an emotional story of healing and moving on, right? Wrong. At the funeral, we meet his idiot friends (Kevin Smith and two other jokers, all who turn in rotten performances). What one of them is doing at the funeral home is appalling; to put it bluntly, the guy is a jerk. OK, so it's supposed to be a sophomoric comedy? Wrong again.

Grit your teeth, there's still more clichéd characters coming. Enter the blonde bimbo, and her weird kid. A lot of the plot revolves around these two. She mumbles about yoga; the kid just stands around robotically throwing CD's on the floor. Real cute; I wanted to throw a ten ton crate of CD's on his head. Anyway, these two have a secret that drives the plot along. Presence of kid = suspicion. If you catch my drift.

People do stuff that doesn't add up. There's a romance that has as much chemistry as two patches of dead seaweed. The attraction makes no sense, either, in light of earlier events in the story. Most characters suddenly change in odd ways, rather than evolve logically. Random sight gags evoke no laughs. The kid continues to be obnoxious.

Nobody in the cast except for Garner makes any effort; they just don't seem to care. Even Ben-Jen's work here is not quite up to par, in light of her proved potential in other roles.

The ending is ridiculous (and about as likely as the odds of winning a 50 million dollar lottery). It's like somebody tagged it on, because they didn't know how to close out the thing. The movie never does figure out which genre(s) it wants to be, either.

The opening scene of C&R could have been me when my best friend died. Susannah Grant (and Jennifer Garner with her tremendous acting) has put a touching visual to that permanent loss of a loved one. The coming together of these friends, each mourning in their own way and trying to figure out how to move forward, is captured with humor and at times is sadly haunting. Each character looks for a way to stay connected, despite their loss. The use of periods of silence with the camera hanging on an actor's face is effective in communicating all the subtext involved in love, loss and friendship. Although it was easy for me to connect to each character, it may not be so for everyone. There are draws in this movie for everyone, however. Kevin Smith is wonderfully funny. Timothy Olyphant is beautiful to watch and Ms. Grant has used his beauty (and his fantastically revealing facial expressions) to the film's advantage. Jennifer Garner is . . . Jennifer Garner. She's fabulous. I loved this movie and can't wait to see it again.

Catch and Release fmovies. Kevin Smith was definitely the comic relief in this movie. According to Smith, he claims that he can't act and that's why he plays Silent Bob. I say -- NOT TRUE!!! Kevin Smith was perfect as "Sam" and his acting was very good. Jennifer Garner is always a pleasure to watch. She always plays her characters true to form and this movie was no different. I had a bit of a problem with Timothy Olyphant's character, Fritz. There was definitely something missing from the way he was in the beginning of the film to where we saw him end up. Perhaps Ms. Grant will add a few more scenes to eliminate the confusion. Juliette Lewis was just darling and gave a very convincing performance. This film releases in January 2007 so get ready to have some fun.

Not going to lie, this movie totally surpasses expectations. On the surface, it looks like a total chick flick, but it totally delivers for guys too. Lots of laughs and a very realistic and introspective look at coming to terms with the secret lives of the people we love.

Features a brilliant and very likable performance by Kevin Smith as Sam. Relative newcomer Sam Jaeger as Dennis delivers an extremely authentic and sincere performance. Their relationship as best friends offers both witty comic relief and another dimension to the plot. Very enjoyable.

Jennifer Garner is, of course, amazing and beautiful. She gives her character a sense of depth and grace that is really refreshing on screen.

All the boyfriends who get "dragged" to this are going to love it--whether they admit to afterwards or not is a different story.

Why was this movie good? It wasn't supposed to be good. It was supposed to be a piece-of-crap romantic comedy but instead, it's an excellent story in so many complicated, touching, veracious ways. In fact, in coming up with an IMDb score, I tried to think of any one thing that would detract from a perfect movie-watching experience and, can you believe it? I can't.

Who packaged and promoted this film? Were they sleeping during the screenings? From the first second, the quality of story and production was evident. Multi-faceted, varied characters. Nuanced storyline. Fine, fine performances. Beautifully done all around.

Thank you for this happy accident.