(2007)
2.5
Derek Armstrong
Catch and Release is a mournful, squishy little romantic drama, which keeps one foot in the comedy realm by having Kevin Smith make a goofy entrance and play court jester every five minutes. However, Smith's character also nearly overdoses on sleeping pills at the beginning -- it's unclear whether accidentally or on purpose -- so he's hardly immune to the melancholy that overwhelms this movie. Some of that is to be expected, as Susannah Grant's film grapples with the death of a groom-to-be, only days before his wedding. Happening on the eve of a new beginning, the tragedy seems even more intense, and invites viewers to imagine how they'd cope in those circumstances. But that topic is shut down prematurely, as Grant frustrates the rubberneckers in the audience by only hinting at what killed Grady Douglas, and never even shows us a picture of the man. Instead, the writer-director relies on genre tropes that are inappropriate under the circumstances -- say, the grieving bride-to-be (Jennifer Garner) falling for a ladies' man (Timothy Olyphant) she frowns upon -- and introduces us to Grady only by way of the secret love child and baby mama (Juliette Lewis) he left behind. Good thing he was a dissembling scoundrel, though, because how else could we ever root for a hasty romance between his best friend and his fiancée? (The fact that the names of the betrothed are Grey and Grady seems a bit too cutesy for this movie, and is never touched on.) Further harshing the buzz is Sam Jaeger as the friend who pines for Grey, but whose high-strung nature makes him unsympathetic where he should be sweet. Whether these are natural reactions to Grady's death misses the point. If what made these characters interesting is obscured by that tragedy, we can't learn anything from them anyway.
Catch and Release on AllMovie
Catch and Release (2007)
