Catch and Release

photo_11_hires CATCH AND RELEASE Caught Catch and Release on cable the other day, a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Garner, and thought it wasn’t half-bad! There were enough obstacles to the two leads hooking up that I could pay attention while I was cleaning the house. Jennifer Garner — not shabby in this, except for the moment where her character is cutting loose, listing all the secrets she kept from her dead fiance, and there are a bunch of cutaways demonstrating how Tim Olyphant is falling for her. In this scene, you see the limits of her acting and Tim Olyphant, who is a pretty charismatic actor seems convincing, but you’re like, what the hell are you reacting to? It’s watching a man genuinely fall in love, but then the object of affection is a block of cheese. Totally disconcerting.

And to be petty, Jennifer Garner is very good-looking but the botox lips make no sense on her wasp-y beauty. (Like Anglos have straight noses and thin lips, you feel me?) My only other beef with her is I don’t understand why in every single movie, she dresses like cr*p. Seriously? Is it that hard to find a good stylist? But not to bust on the entire film, because let me say this — Juliette Lewis has a supporting role, and I know folks think she’s an oddball, but I think she’s a pretty good actress. She fully inhabits her characters and the difference between her comfort level and the lead’s is kind of embarrassing. But whatevs. This is a no-big-deal post, but still, had to get this off my chest.

4 Replies to “Catch and Release”

  1. I just watched Catch & Release on cable recently, too! (Maybe we should start a blog where we passionately review and dissect movies that came out a few years ago and we catch on cable?) But anyways, I thought the movie was mostly bad. Was so turned off by the preposterous situation–widow moves in with her dead fiance’s guy friends?? ick. Dead fiance turns out to be cheating cad, but still a saint because he paid child support?? ick. And the subtitle for the movie should be: Nice Guys Never Get the Girl. Because the blonde guy was so super nice (and cute), and Jennifer Garner’s character still chose the rebel, misunderstood emo creative guy. And there was no compelling reason for the emo creative guy to go for someone as boring (even a hip name like Gray just emphasized how lame the character was) as her character was anyways!

    But I agree, I totally enjoyed Juliette Lewis in this! She is doing her own thing and owns it, although I think it’s successful because it is in a supporting role. Also, I enjoyed Kevin Smith. As for this movie, JGarner was pregnant at the time, thus explaining some of the bad styling. The movie succeeded, though, as an advertisement for Boulder–I totally want to visit!

  2. Nnk, we must have watched it on the same night. what’s wrong with gray? he has a house on the beach in malibu. that already sets him ahead.

    i think the first time i noticed juliette lewis as someone who’s doing something was from dusk till dawn, b/c next to the asian kid who was cast as her brother and didn’t seem to act all, she looked like a genius. prior to that, i thought she wasn’t anything special.

    did you like jgarner in it? she cries well, but like, she’s just so darn limited.

  3. Yeah, JGar is limited, though I did enjoy her on Alias…and she was serviceable in Juno, wasn’t she? But in this movie, I was embarrassed for her and embarrassed for her co-stars who were in this movie with her.

    I think Gray is the name of Garner’s character. Hip name for a BORING character.

  4. oh yeah, i think she was great on alias. that was a perfect part for her to dress up in crazy outfits/wigs, fight people, and cry. that is like her strength. in juno, totally agree. loved her character in that movie!!

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