We’re all a bunch of hypocrites, so we shouldn’t be surprised when the movies exhibit hypocritical behavior. Sometimes it’s in a “Billy Jack” way, when a film says one thing (solve your problems peaceably) while showing you another (feet of fury). Often it’s something as omnipresently mundane as product placement.
Early in “Catch and Release,” forgettable seriocomic blather from writer-director Susannah Grant, the hunky Hollywood filmmaker-in-training played by Timothy Olyphant complains about the business. “Movies,” he says. “They’re worse than commercials–just sell, sell, sell.” No kidding! Between references to Celestial Seasonings tea every other scene and the pile-driving inevitability guiding the romance between the Olyphant character and the lead played by Jennifer Garner, “Catch and Release” sells it like it means it.
Nonetheless it’s a pretty peculiar film, less formulaic than uncertain. As in “Elizabethtown” (which I hated; this one has a pulse, at least), the picture hinges on the early offscreen death of a loved one, before the story proper begins. The fiance of fabulous Gray Wheeler (Garner, towering over the men buzzing ’round her) dies in a freak accident just before the wedding. After the funeral she spends many longish conversations over many days getting to know Sam (Kevin Smith), Dennis (Sam Jaeger) and Fritz (Olyphant), her late intended’s pals, hanging out in the same Boulder, Colo., house.
The dead man led a double life: While he was dating Gray he fathered a child with an Encino massage therapist (Juliette Lewis), who eventually hits town with son in tow. While certain lines remind you that writer-director Grant (“Erin Brockovich”) is good with words–Boulder is referred to as a “Patagonia Disneyland”–too much of “Catch and Release” feels random as opposed to lifelike. The heroine is a bit of a blank, and she meets her flame-to-be after he has sex with the funeral caterer in the bathroom while she hides behind a shower curtain. (Liked the similar bit in “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” This time, eh.) Another character’s suicide attempt comes out of nowhere, and its after-effect is nil.
Making her feature-film directorial debut, Grant is going for an everyday conversational texture and a sense of life’s curveballs. But the results wander and you never really believe them. By the time Smith’s character cracks his seventh Celestial Seasonings joke, you’re ready for something stronger than tea.
Footnote: Tommy Stinson, who used to tear it up with The Replacements (talk about concerts you never forget), co-wrote the film’s score. While the music’s used rather obviously–as with “Elizabethtown,” the songs ride in at all the obvious emotional junctures and restate what we already know–Stinson’s sensibility is fresher than most. Fresher than the film’s, in fact.
`Catch and Release’
(star)(star)
Written and directed by Susannah Grant; cinematography by John Lindley; edited by Anne V. Coates; production design by Brent Thomas; music by BT and Tommy Stinson; produced by Jenno Topping. A Columbia Pictures release; opens Friday. Running time: 2:04.
Gray …………….. Jennifer Garner
Fritz ……………. Timothy Olyphant
Sam ……………… Kevin Smith
Dennis …………… Sam Jaeger
Maureen ………….. Juliette Lewis
Mrs. Douglas ……… Fiona Shaw
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sexual content, language and some drug use).
(star)(star)(star)(star) EXCELLENT
(star)(star)(star) GOOD
(star)(star) FAIR
(star) POOR
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mjphillips@tribune.com
