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 | | ARCHIVES 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | Movie Reviews Issue #20.05 :: 01/31/2007 - 02/06/2007 Garner Goes Trolling for Happiness in Catch and Release |
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| Sam Jaeger (left), Kevin Smith (center), and Jennifer Garner (right) in Catch and Release. |
In between episodes of Party of Five and the recent Charlotte’s Web, writer/director Susannah Grant has written a variety of — I might as well go ahead and say it — chick flicks, including Pocahontas, Ever After, Erin Brokovich, 28 Days and In Her Shoes. Let’s be honest: Few would probably have been seen by males left to their own devices, except perhaps movie critics striving to be fair.
Grant’s story finds Gray Wheeler (Jennifer Garner of TV’s Alias) at her fiancé Brad’s funeral. In the home of his grieving family, she hides in a shower stall to weep when the bathroom counter is commandeered by Brad’s pal Fritz (Timothy Olyphant, sometime resident of TV’s Deadwood) for a quickie with another mourner. Should we doubt that Fritz’s boyish enthusiasm will sooner or later — actually, sooner — so delight Gray that she’ll fall in love with him and forget her mourning practically before Brad’s in the ground?
It’s not quite that easy, either for Gray or for us. First, there must be some irritating comedy relief from Brad’s other buddies played by Sam Jaeger (Lucky Number Sleven) and sometimes director, sometimes actor Kevin Smith (“Silent Bob” of Clerks II and others), at least one of whom has carried a secret torch for Gray since Brad met her six years ago. If that’s not enough plot — and apparently, it isn’t — Gray finds herself at odds with Brad’s mom, who wants her engagement ring, a family heirloom, back. For no additional admission, there’s Maureen, the massage therapist (Juliette Lewis, Starsky and Hutch) who shows up with a 4-year-old who is very likely Brad’s son. Let’s see if I can do the math. Gray and Brad met six years ago; Brad’s illegitimate child is 4. So have we got enough story for a movie, or what?
I like Garner, who seemed trapped on the small screen (who doesn’t?), although I’d prefer to see her in a role where she doesn’t pout the entire movie. Surely we’re at a disadvantage having just met her in the midst of a tragedy, or maybe there’s a reason Brad had a fling with the vacuum-brained-but-bubbly Maureen. Maybe it was to escape his deadbeat friends who don’t do anything but bicker and flyfish, hence the metaphor that generates the title.
The brightest thing about the film is Olyphant, who’s charismatic enough to carry the movie for everyone. Nevertheless, I’d have risked a little more writing, as if the movie’s not overwritten enough, to change the fact that his character is an overpaid movie director who lives in a million-dollar beach house at Malibu. Maybe the more interesting film was the one where Gray finds solace not with a rich playboy but with the deadbeat roommate who may not have a dime but has loved her for years. | |
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