Catch and Release

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Rough around the edges, but once you get used to the laconic pace, the plot grooves along nicely.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

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."

TV Guide Angel Cohn

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.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

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

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

An oddly appealing, if innocuous, movie of considerable charm.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

One of those movies where the small pleasures stack up high enough to dwarf the disappointments.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It's not a comedy-drama, really. It's let's-all-share therapy in beautiful Boulder, Colo.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

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.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

So superficial and formulaic that even Garner's mega-watt grin can't completely save it.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

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.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Because so little of it works, the film is disposable.

Variety Lael Loewenstein

A so-so romantic dramedy.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Garner is no more than serviceable as the tightly wound Gray.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Gray says she hates fishermen who catch and release: Getting jerked around hurts the jaw. See this movie and you'll know the feeling.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

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.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

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.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

An unfunny, undramatic comedy-drama that asks us to care about lying idiots making implausible choices.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

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.

Empire Tony Horkins

A film with a fishing metaphor for a title should have come with sharper hooks.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

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.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Now it's just another romantic comedy, neither terribly bad nor truly great, buoyed along on currents of hope and post-traumatic good cheer.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

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.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Catch and Release is not worth catching. Release yourself from boredom by giving it a miss.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

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.

Premiere Ethan Alter

Time doesn't just slow down while you're watching Catch and Release -- it actually comes to a dead stop.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

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.

New York Post Kyle Smith

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.