Catch and Release

In this endless chick flick that is as big an insult to chicks as it is to flicks, Jennifer Garner plays a woman left single again by the sudden death of her fiancée, a guy we never see named Grady who apparently kept lots of secrets. As she slowly starts unraveling them, we get to know a lot of losers along the way, including his friends, her friends, plus his secret squeeze with the 4-year-old son who may—or may not—be his son as well. Set in a small fishing community in Colorado (hence the tie-in title), Catch and Release is the kind of movie that just can't seem to have enough annoying, self-absorbed people around to rattle on about their life woes. Leading the boorish parade is Garner, playing it morose and depressed through three quarters of the movie before she inexplicably starts making allusions to talents she has in common with porn star Traci Lords. The writer/director Susannah Grant decided the downbeat story needed some laughs so she threw funny man Kevin Smith (yes, the Clerks guy) into every other scene for comic relief. Smith's occasionally amusing antics can go a long way and should be taken in small doses, but the powers-that-be behind this me-fest decided the more, the better. Whatever plot there is comes to a grinding halt every time he starts mugging on camera. The rest of the guys have no personality, while only Juliette Lewis as the floozy waitress who had a fling with the deceased scores any points for playing the kind of recognizable human being we might remotely care about. Catch this release at your own peril.