| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Rough around the edges, but once you get used to the laconic pace, the plot grooves along nicely.
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| 67 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Take away the death and revelations that follow, and Catch And Release has the makings of a weekly half-hour network comedy--call it "Four's Company."
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| 63 |
TV Guide
As soon as it pitches camp in generic romantic-comedy territory, it loses its intriguing edge and becomes one more predictable girl-meets-unsuitable-boy story.
|
| 60 |
The New York Times
Although I find the term "chick flick" odious, I imagine that Columbia Pictures regards Catch and Release as exactly that, although there are signs that Ms. Grant was reaching for something more layered and subtle than the usual fairy-tale formula
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| 60 |
Los Angeles Times
An oddly appealing, if innocuous, movie of considerable charm.
|
| 60 |
Salon.com
One of those movies where the small pleasures stack up high enough to dwarf the disappointments.
|
| 50 |
Baltimore Sun
It's not a comedy-drama, really. It's let's-all-share therapy in beautiful Boulder, Colo.
|
| 50 |
Boston Globe
There's a funkier and more interesting movie in Maureen, a character played by Juliette Lewis. Maureen is a single mom, a massage therapist, and a dimwit California follower of every new-age theory out there. She's a nasal, needy wreck, and Catch and Release is torn between adoring her and making ruthless fun of her.
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| 50 |
Miami Herald
So superficial and formulaic that even Garner's mega-watt grin can't completely save it.
|
| 50 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Grant's film plays like a two-hour episode of "Friends" intercut with "Seventh Heaven." Those sounds you hear are wisecrack, heartbreak, heartbreak, wisecrack, wisecrack.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Reader
As his wisecracking roomie, Smith keeps this contrived chick flick afloat, managing to steer past the kind of egregious product placement that would have capsized a less agile performer.
|
| 50 |
ReelViews
Because so little of it works, the film is disposable.
|
| 50 |
Variety
Lael Loewenstein
A so-so romantic dramedy.
|
| 50 |
LA Weekly
Garner is no more than serviceable as the tightly wound Gray.
|
| 50 |
Rolling Stone
Gray says she hates fishermen who catch and release: Getting jerked around hurts the jaw. See this movie and you'll know the feeling.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Making her feature-film directorial debut, Grant is going for an everyday conversational texture and a sense of life's curveballs. But the results wander and you never really believe them.
|
| 42 |
Entertainment Weekly
I just don't know any chick who will make sense of this flick -- it's that blitheringly out of touch with present psychosexual (never mind feminist) time and space.
|
| 42 |
Portland Oregonian
An unfunny, undramatic comedy-drama that asks us to care about lying idiots making implausible choices.
|
| 40 |
Film Threat
Won't make anybody’s "best of" lists a year from now, but it's nowhere near as offensive as some other examples of this moldy genre.
|
| 40 |
Empire
Tony Horkins
A film with a fishing metaphor for a title should have come with sharper hooks.
|
| 40 |
Wall Street Journal
The film suffers from a style that settles for pleasant or touching at the cost of spontaneous or impassioned. Too bad, because Ms. Garner is a genuinely pleasing presence.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
Now it's just another romantic comedy, neither terribly bad nor truly great, buoyed along on currents of hope and post-traumatic good cheer.
|
| 40 |
Washington Post
Throughout, Garner retains a permanent grimace, as if persuasive acting can be achieved by contorting cheek muscles and pouting lips. It's not just depressing to watch; it's tiring. We want to tell her to relax -- for our own relief.
|
| 38 |
USA Today
Catch and Release is not worth catching. Release yourself from boredom by giving it a miss.
|
| 38 |
New York Daily News
Really, women drag their husbands and boyfriends to films like writer-director Susannah Grant's emotionally bogus Catch and Release and I feel their pain. They should get a free Boys Night Out pass every time they make the sacrifice.
|
| 38 |
Premiere
Time doesn't just slow down while you're watching Catch and Release -- it actually comes to a dead stop.
|
| 38 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Despite their hackneyed characters, Smith and Lewis create a tiny spark and add a little humour. Without them, Catch and Release would be totally dead in the water.
|
| 12 |
New York Post
The chick comedy-drama Catch and Release may look bland, but it's not. It's worse. To rise to the level of blandness, it would need to have a few gallons of Tabasco dumped into it.
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