The directorial debut of Erin
Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, Catch
and Release is set in
and unfolds in a rustic state of monotonously pitched pining, captured in
just-so fashion by an acoustic-rock soundtrack. Jennifer Garner stars as Gray
Wheeler, a woman who, after the sudden death of her fiancé, seeks solace in the
company of his former roommates and true-blue friends, Sam (Kevin Smith) and
Dennis (Sam Jaeger, below left). Also eventually joining the household is said fiancé’s childhood
buddy Fritz (Deadwood’s Timothy
Olyphant), a wolfish, slightly untrustworthy commercial director from
Despite Fritz’s best efforts to keep them hidden, certain secrets start to emerge,
involving a healthy secret bank account and a
massage therapist (Juliette Lewis) and her son. What follows is a haphazard,
jumbled union of rubbed-raw wounds, renewed faith and new relationships — Gray
comes to see new sides of the man she thought she knew, butts heads with her would’ve-been
mother-in-law, and at the same time eventually finds herself improbably drawn
to Fritz.
You feel trace elements of a fuller ensemble character study
of grief in Catch and Release, but
the characters — the inveterate playboy with the hardened heart, the stoic
secret crush, the ditzy single mother — are reduced to thin sketches. Sincerely
rendered emotion abuts contrivance to such an astonishing degree that one
eventually has to stop trying to make sense of the movie and locate a consistent
tone; faux heartaches here grind their gears through pat coping and implausible
flirtation, and make gloom seem more or less like a weathered knit shirt one
romantically slips on with a fly-fishing hat. What helps the movie skate by —
to the very slight degree that it does, and only for audiences predisposed to
love this sort of L.L. Bean cinema — is some of the novelty of its casting in
the supporting roles and the committed effort of Garner, who manages to prop up
a few moments of genuineness in what is an otherwise contrived journey.
Blu-ray release of the film, including deleted scenes, cast auditions and a
making-of featurette, but the only bonus material that graces the regular DVD
version of Catch and Release,
presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby digital 5.1 surround
sound track, are two audio commentaries. One, from Grant and cinematographer
John Lindley, is couched mainly in production detail, and Grant dishes plenty
of assists in talking about constructing the look of the film; the other chat features
Grant and Smith, who’s almost ceded his status as a filmmaker to his burgeoning
reputation as indefatigable commentary track pinch-hitter (see also: Roadhouse).
Smith keeps the pithy one-liners coming to a pleasing degree, but he and Grant
also talk about their differing approaches to working with actors, and a good
deal about writing as well. It’s a nice guided tour through
from a couple of successful multi-hyphenates. C- (Movie) C+ (Disc)