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Erin Brockovich (2000) screenwriter Susannah Grant makes her directorial debut with aplomb in regards to beautiful artistic shots but is severely lacking in flair when it comes to general filmmaking. Jennifer Garner's quest to discover the secrets of her recently deceased fiancé ©s dreary and nonsensical at the best of times with the B-list actress doing nothing to improve the interest level. Ben Affleck's wife, who was incidentally pregnant at the time of filming, fails to ignite any passion in her leading role and as a result the whole film suffers from the soaking it has seemingly taken in mediocrity. Virtually every attempt at comedy is misfired with the always joyous Kevin Smith and Juliette Lewis the only saviours for Grant as her journey towards a dramedy is sabotaged by an immensely poor script. Nevertheless, Olyphant does his job well as the token hunky love interest and the aforementioned Smith and Lewis play their wacky characters with enough ability to just make this a watchable outing. One has to wonder why Smith chose to act in this film though. The obvious chance to eat (literally every time we see his character) and the opportunity to steal every scene, in his own wardrobe, with unchallenging dialogue, must have been a very attractive prospect!
The summary
Catch and Release is one of those outings which fails to provoke enough emotion to make a ripple on your memory at the cinema, and inevitably on DVD or television. When you are able to see the film at home, iron, read or surf whilst "watching", with slight breaks so you can keep up with the action as Grant's predictable vehicle unfolds.
