Movie fails to catch interest

“Catch and Release,” the new film starring Jennifer Garner, is a mass of incoherent plot lines and cliché themes. Susannah Grant’s directorial debut also stars Timothy Olyphant, as Garner’s love interest, and Kevin Smith, as the bumbling comic relief.

The story begins with a serious tone as the first scene is set at a funeral for a man named Grady, who turns out to be Gray Wheeler’s (Garner) dead fiancée. The details of his death are fuzzy, just like the rest of the film, but eventually the audience understands that he drowned during a fishing accident that occurred sometime before the wedding.

After the funeral, Wheeler mopes about while her roommates, Sam (Smith) and Dennis, played by Sam Jageur, attempt to cheer her up. Wheeler’s foe, no other than Grady’s best friend Fritz (Olyphant), visits her as she mourns. Though the relationship between Wheeler and Fritz begins with hatred, Wheeler eventually grows to trust Fritz when given insight about her ex-fiancée’s darkest secrets.

Maybe if Grady’s secrets were more scandalous, the movie would hold something more for audiences; instead, Grady was a cheater and had a child with a flighty massage therapist, Maureen (Juliette Lewis). Knowing this secret helps Wheeler replace her love for Grady with a love for Fritz. Predictably enough, a series of misunderstandings arise between Fritz and Wheeler, which unfortunately prevents the movie from ending at the 50-minute mark. After the conflict, there is still another hour to set up the happy ending.

The film’s overused plot line lacked that spark that takes bad or even average films to the next level. Since Wheeler and Fritz’s relationship carries a good half of the movie, Garner and Olyphant’s lack of chemistry causes the film to fall flat.

The strongest elements of the movie are the secondary characters, Lewis and Smith. They humorously banter and feed off each other well, which is a plus since the they are the only comedic relief. Lewis and Smith are interesting enough to spur the audience’s curiosity, but since the lead actors are emphasized, there is not much chance to learn more about the duo.

The setting also failed the film. Though a few scenes were shot in a natural environment, most of the scenes seemed to be an afterthought and provide no visual appeal.

As far as romantic comedies go, this one falls in line with director Grant’s past films like “In Her Shoes” and “28 Days.” These movies can have some appeal, but not with increasing movie prices; perhaps it will be a dollar theater hit. The best choice would be to wait for “Catch and Release” to hit Blockbuster shelves.

Grade: C-