The first issue I had with this film, was how little fishing had to do with the plot. Yes, the man who died whom everyone else in the story is mourning liked to fish. However, no actual fishing takes place in 'Catch & Release' until halfway through the movie. That is one of many problems with this film, where the packaging on the box does not accurately describe what is inside. Once the viewer gets a look at what the film actually is, rather than the romantic comedy/drama it appears to be, you'll be sorely disappointed.
Jennifer Garner ('13 Going On 30') is Gray Wheeler, a woman who recently suffered the death of her fiancée, and is struggling to deal with the aftereffects. Since the movie begins at the dead man‘s wake, you have no idea of the person that died, what he meant to his fiancée, and what Wheeler’s life was like before. The dead man had three friends, each either helping or hindering Wheeler’s recovery as she eventually moves into the apartment of two of them. She learns her dead fiancée had a child with another woman, which Wheeler had no idea about. Ultimately, she needs to move on with her life through the power of his friends and accept this new arrangement.
If the plot of the story makes very little sense, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Kevin Smith, the director of such excellent counter-culture films as 'Chasing Amy' and 'Dogma', acts as the funny friend, who isn’t that funny when he tries to kill himself shortly after the wake. There is also a boring friend who owned a fish shop with the deceased, and a sleazy friend, who has sex with a waitress in the bathroom, during his friend’s wake.
I wish I was making all of this up, because it was painful to watch.
The story starts too quickly, as you can’t tell the friends apart, but soon the film starts to drag as Garner’s character makes bad decision after bad decision. Whether its becoming attracted to the sleazy friend or spending quality time with the ‘other woman’ in her fiancée’s life, Wheeler’s actions don’t make any sense.
The film definitely has a hippie vibe, which if it was a period piece about the 1960s or 70s, the characters’ actions would have seemed more reasonable. However, set in a modern context, about the serious subject of the death of a loved one, 'Catch & Release' doesn't work on any level. It is not insightful, humorous, interesting or enjoyable. It does show how different types of people deal with the loss of a loved one, but there are much better films that have dealt with this subject, like the drama 'Stand by Me', the fantasy 'What Dreams May Come' or the comedy 'Without a Paddle'.
Do not mistake this movie for a worthwhile experience; instead rent one of these other films or grab a pole and go fishing.
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and some drug use.
