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Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith, Sam Jaeger, Tina Lifford ... see more see more... , Fiona Shaw , Juliette Lewis , Joshua Friesen , Georgia Craig , Christopher Redman , Joyce Krenz , Sonja Bennett , Yorgo Constantine , Daniel Parker , Nancy Hower , Jennifer Spence , Kyla Anderson , Leanna Nash , Wendy Noel , Leslie McMichaels , Michael D. Adamthwaite , John B. Destry , Nancy Wetzel , Dillard Brinson , Sacha Levin , Terence Kelly , Gabrielle Rose

A woman faced with a tragedy discovers the man she loved was not all she imagined him to be in this romantic comedy-drama. Grey (Jennifer Garner) was a beautiful woman who found the man of her dreams ... read more read more...in Grady Douglas, and was looking forward to spending the rest of her life with him until he suddenly died only a few days before they were to be married. With her wedding turned into an impromptu funeral, Grey is emotionally devastated but has to deal with the practicalities of her new life alone, including moving out of the house she shared with Grady. Short on cash and in need of emotional support, Grey moves in with two longtime friends, sloppy but philosophical Sam (Kevin Smith) and well-meaning but tightly wound Dennis (Sam Jaeger). Grey also finds herself often chatting with Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), Grady's best friend, through she's always regarded him as a sleazeball. As time passes, Grey discovers that Grady had a secret life he never shared with her -- including a young son from a previous relationship -- and as she tries to come to terms with the past of her former fiancé, she struggles to put her new life on track, and finds herself reevaluating her long-held feelings about Fritz. Catch and Release was the first directorial effort from screenwriter Susannah Grant, whose script credits include Erin Brockovich, 28 Days, and In Her Shoes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

57% liked it

200,348 ratings

Critics

21% liked it

132 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 51 min.

Directed by: Susannah Grant

Release Date: January 26, 2007

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DVD Release Date: May 8, 2007

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Stats: 11,630 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (11,630)

  • hunterjt13
    May 1, 2012
    hunterjt13
    A woman whose fiancee recently died learns that he had a child with another woman.
    I only rented this film to see Kevin Smith, and he wasn't bad, even capable of handling a heavy, dramatic scene. Jennifer Garner was also occasionally good. But nothing can rescue the story. The... read more bottom line is that I have absolutely no idea what draws Gray to Fritz, and if I see one more film in which a woman slaps a man, then is thwarted when she tries to slap him twice more with alternating hands before he pins her against a wall and they begin making out, I'm going to try to get slapped more often. And there's an oppressive unevenness to the film made worse by the mix CD of indie songs that seem to be squeezed into the film.
    Overall, Catch and Release is not a good film because the motivations of the main characters are more mysterious than the reason that nobody ever kisses after getting hit.
  • murphmann93
    June 24, 2011
    murphmann93
    It was an ok film!
  • bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    June 26, 2010
    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    this sucks. D
  • Camus123
    August 6, 2009
    Camus123
    After reading Kevin Smith's Diary, "My Boring Ass Life" I felt compelled to watch this movie as he chronicles some of his time making it (for which he took some guff from the studios for revealing too much).
    Smith was fun to watch as he was primarily playing himself. Garner, a ... read moretrue natural beauty who I defy you not to love. The movie...not so much.
    I was almost angry watching the character inconsistencies, the obvious plot trends, the cliches. The start was very heartfelt and had promise, but it quickly devolved into just so much tripe.
    I really do not know what we were watching with Jennifer Garner's character, "Gray." She turns into something wholly different from the beginning of the film to the end and even while the metamorphosis may have been part of the journey and process the moves are so jumpy and without precipitant as well as by a route that is so very nonsensical that the destination makes no sense and just leaves one with no idea what any of the characters are about. None of the character decisions make any sense in the context of development and are totally devoid of discernable motive.
    The backdrop is spectacular (Vancouver pretending to be Colorado). Some of the performances were memorable (primarily Smith and Garner), but I simply cannot recommend this movie as anything more than, "fair" to "unsatisfying."
  • Redlats
    September 26, 2008
    Redlats
    The living arrangements of Gray (Jennifer Garner) and all her fiancé's friends -- even her fiancé's best friend is somewhat strange - they all live together in a house.

    This movie is great -- the type where everyone grows up a bit during the movie. I saw it a second time a ye... read morear after the first, and enjoyed it more the second time. Its amazing how much I forgot though.
  • FireStormStudios
    September 3, 2007
    FireStormStudios
    Poorly written. I felt depressed, even though I don't think that's what the intent was.
  • deano
    July 9, 2007
    deano
    Kevin Smith, better known as the director (and actor) of classic cult films such as Clerks and Mallrats, proves that Silent Bob has silenced for good as he upstages co-star Jennifer Garner in this romantic comedy-drama. He's so hilarious.
  • Godless
    June 24, 2007
    Godless
    So bland and typical. I would have gave it one star for KEvin Smith's performance but the movie is so bad it negates that too.
  • superclerk25
    June 10, 2007
    superclerk25
    It was a nice story and the actors did a good job but it fell a little flat for me. It seemed like there was a lot of things picked up and then put down for no reason. For me at least it didn't feel like a complete story but more of a glimpse into the randomness of these people... read mores lives.
  • dreamfaeries
    June 9, 2007
    dreamfaeries
    It was a cute romantic comedy. Nothing too special about it, but it wasn't horrific either.

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Critic Reviews

Claudia Puig
September 1, 2007
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Release yourself from boredom by giving it a miss. Full Review

Tom Beer
February 10, 2007
Tom Beer, Time Out New York

Sadly lifeless. Full Review

Richard Roeper
February 5, 2007
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

I was pleasantly surprised.

Stephanie Zacharek
February 3, 2007
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

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

Richard Schickel
January 31, 2007
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine

A romantic non-comedy. Full Review

Joe Morgenstern
January 26, 2007
Joe Morgenstern, 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. Full Review

Peter Howell
January 26, 2007
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Were it not for [Kevin] Smith's mildly amusing antics, it might have been necessary to attach a warning to the movie about the dangers of watching it whilst operating heavy machinery. Full Review

Ted Fry
January 26, 2007
Ted Fry, Seattle Times

There's barely anything new in this well-designed, prettily shot piece of fluff hewn from the realm of tragic-comic romance immemorial. Full Review

Peter Hartlaub
January 26, 2007
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

Susannah Grant's movie is rough around the edges, but once you get used to the laconic pace, the plot grooves along nicely. Full Review

Peter Travers
January 26, 2007
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Screenwriter Susannah Grant makes her directing debut with a romance that wants to respect the mess of love and loss but winds up smoothing all its rough edges with a Hollywood pumice stone.

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  • Jason Lee turned down the role of Sam to provide the voice of Syndrome in The Incredibles. The Role of Sam then went to Kevin Smith.
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