Catch and Release

It is incredibly rare when I find a very good romantic comedy and this movie does not fall into that category at all. A movie cannot solely rely on how adorable Jennifer Garner is to move it along and as adorable as she is, it cannot save this cornball movie. First off, Garner's name in this movie is Gray. So that sets up this gem of dialogue:


Gray: What's your favorite color?
Fritz: Gray


Yes they were in bed, post sex when that happened. God could that be anymore awful? Timothy Olyphant plays Fritz and while he has a certain amount of charm, it is lost in that god awful drivel passing as dialogue. I guess I could talk about the plot of the film. Gray is about to get married, but her husband to be dies in some sort of nondescript fishing accident. Fritz bangs one of the caterers at the funeral, while gray is sitting in the tub drying and thus begins their painful to watch relationship um blossom. Kevin Smith and Sam Jaeger play the best friends of the dead guy and soon the 4 of them are all living in a house together. The main issue of conflict is that while going through dead guy's finances Gray stumbles on some weird transactions in a secret bank account. It is found out that Gray's dead man was cheating on her with another woman and had a kid by her. This woman comes into the picture in the form of the incredibly obnoxious Julliette Lewis. This woman is supposed to be your typical hot southern California blond bimbo, but Lewis isn't hot enough to pass for that, so it annoys me that Gray is jealous of her looks. The dead guy has like 2 million dollars and so his kid gets it and Gray thinks she has shown up just to claim the money


For some reason the 3 male roommates invite the blond woman and her child over for dinner a few times, even though they do not know her and she has turned Gray's life upside down. Well, this is a romantic comedy so sappiness comes running down this movie like a river. Everyone quickly gets along, but wait, one of the male roommates is harboring a secret love on Gray and he tells her and shockingly it ruins the friendship. Oh, then we have Julliette Lewis' need for love and affection so in some absurd annoying plot turn, she and Kevin Smith hook up. The happy ending is nauseating beyond belief, but why shouldn't it be because the rest of the movie is just as nauseating. Kevin Smith does his best to save this movie, but he is speaking something completely different. While his character is very much a paint by the numbers type of sidekick, he injects some laughs playing a clean version of himself. Rumors are he wrote his own dialogue, which makes sense, although it makes the writer/director lose any sort of credibility. I wish I could say better things about this movie, but not even Jennifer Garner's vastly underused dimples could save this god awful movie.