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Catch and Release
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment


5.3

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 24 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, language and some drug use

Starring Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Sam Jaeger, Kevin Smith, Juliette Lewis, Joshua Friesen, Fiona Shaw, and Tina Lifford

After the sudden death of her fiancé, Gray Wheeler (Garner) finds comfort in the company of his friends: lighthearted comic Sam (Smith), hyper-responsible Dennis (Jaeger) and, oddly enough, his old childhood buddy Fritz (Olyphant), an irresponsible playboy whom she'd previously pegged as one of the lease reliable people in the world. (Columbia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Susannah Grant
DIRECTED BY:	Susannah Grant
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 8, 2007 Theatrical: January 26, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	124 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

greg t. gave it a0:
"I don't know what others were expecting from this movie" was a common statement in the users comments... how about.. plot.. direction..screenwriting... ANYTHING AT ALL.. really pathetic...

PnArdy PnArdy gave it a5:
I would give it a five. A rather nice, but sometimes too artificial drama romance with Jennifer Garner (Alias) - a love triangle with an unnaturally happy ending.

Chad S.l gave it a5:
Gray (Jennifer Garner) never watched "When Harry Met Sally". If this fetchin' widow did, she would've recalled Harry's warning that there's no such thing as a platonic friend (if the woman is gorgeous), and would've found a more practical way to grieve over her fiance. One friend gets lucky, one carries around a torch, and one is too depressed to notice that a hot babe just crawled into his hospital bed. "Catch and Release" is sort of like "The Big Chill", but these thirtysomethings live the life on a full-time basis. When Gray sleeps with one of her male friends, we're supposed to feel like it's morally acceptable, because what's good for the goose (cooked goose, in this case) is good for the gander. However, the argument can be made that Gray would've hooked up with this guy in spite of her fiance's indiscretion. She's attractive; he's attractive; it was inevitable. Juliette Lewis, in her best role since she was Mallory("Natural Born Killers"), pumps fresh blood into "Catch and Release" just before these old friends become insufferable. The film missteps when it hurries the relationship between Gray and Maureen (Lewis). Before they broke bread, en route to amicability, there should've been a catfight between the two women to help convince us that Gray's loss was worth basing a whole movie around. There's not enough heartbreak (over her fiance's passing), or angst (over her fiance's affair) on Gray's part to make the audience happy for her newfound happiness and life.

Jennifer B. gave it a4:
Kevin Smith has REALLY let himself go. He's gone past the "fat Elvis" stage and will soon be up there with Brando around the time he did Don Juan. I felt bad for him throughout the entire movie and couldn't concentrate on the plot.

Kristy W. gave it an8:
I really liked this move. The characters made choices that weren't always neat and typical "movie" choices, but the type of choices people really make. Kevin Smith was really funny and Jennifer Garner and Timothy Olyphant had great chemistry. I really don't know why others didn't enjoy this movie.

Mike gave it a2:
[***SPOILER***] I did not connect with the characters. There was very little humor and the wrong guy got the girl. Unfortunately, in this case the nice guy finished last.

[Anonymous] gave it a6:
Cute movie... good for a date.

Catch and Release Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment

Catch and Release
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment