Gray Wheeler (Jennifer Garner) loses her fiance in an accident the day before her wedding and is forced to move on in the company of Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), Dennis (Sam Jaeger) and Sam (Kevin Smith), her late fiance's buddies. Unable to afford the bills on her own, she moves in with with Dennis and Sam, who both try to make her transition better in their own unique way, and Sam clearly has a thing for her to boot. Things get more complicated with the apparance of Fritz, a buddy of her late fiancee that she doesn't care for much, and the revelation that her fiance had a million dollars tucked away without telling her. While trying to move on with her life, Gray keeps stumbling upon disturbing pieces of her fiance's life, and finds herself falling for Fritz. ***

Catch and Release delves into the ambiguity of human relationships, and asks how well we really know one another, and how to cope with the loss of someone you expected to be spending the rest of your life with. The characters are flawed, Even though it deals with loss, it's got it's fair share of chuckles, mainly delivered by Kevin Smith's food-munching tea-quoting Sam, or Juliette Lewis' ditzy new age masseuse Maureen, who doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on how to raise a child. Timothy Olyphant is cast against type in this movie, but surprisingly does very well as the romantic lead, leaving the character's intitial impression as a sleazy LA agent far behind as the movie progresses. ---

Image & Sound:

You have the choice of watching the film either full frame or in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1. I'd recomment original, or else you'll lose out on the great outdoor shots. I still would have liked the colours in the outdoor scenes to be more vibrant. 5.1 audio track.

"Commentary with writer/director Susannah Grant and cinematographer John Lindley" is a traditional informative commentary, and covers the cinematography and a few anecdotes from getting the film made. ***

"Commentary with Susannah Grant and Kevin Smith" is much less technical than the one above, and has Smith acting as a sort of interviewer, allthough it sounds more like a good chat than an interview. Anyone previously familiar with Smith knows that he can talk hours on end on the topic of films, and be highly amusing all the while. As always with Smith, they verge off topic at times, and a large chuck of the track is dedicated to Grant explaining how she got her start and the projects she's worked on in the past. Well worth your while. ---

Final Words: