Product Details

• Actors: Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith, Sam Jaeger, Fiona Shaw
• Directors: Susannah Grant
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (PCM), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, Korean
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Columbia Pictures
• DVD Release Date: May 8, 2007
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000NTF44K
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #37,369 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "Catch and Release [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Jennifer Garner's lips grow more Angelina-esque every year. In the romantic comedy Catch and Release, Garner (Alias, 13 Going On 30) plays Gray Wheeler, a young woman whose fiance dies unexpectedly before the wedding, leaving Gray unable to afford her home--so she moves in with her fiance's best friends, Sam (Kevin Smith, director of Clerks and Dogma) and Dennis (Sam Jaeger, Lucky Number Slevin). But the presence of another old friend named Fritz (Timothy Olyphant, Deadwood) leads to the unveiling of a secret: Gray's fiance had a child with another woman. Catch and Release lacks the clear story structure that most romantic comedies are built on, but trades it for a richer sense of the ambiguities of human relationships. Garner, though lovely and personable, is a bit bland--fortunately, she's surrounded by actors with all kinds of edges, including Smith (who shows an unexpected and uncloying earnest side), Fiona Shaw (from the Harry Potter movies) as the fiance's grieving mother, and Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear), who demonstrates once again her powers as a fearless and surprising actress. Catch and Release is an uneven movie, with a remarkably elegant visual style that sometimes clashes with the workmanlike dialogue, but it can't be written off as the same old Hollywood claptrap. Though a happy ending is inevitable, the path it takes has some surprising turns and flashes of unexpected emotional depth.- Bret Fetzer

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Product Description

Gray Wheeler just lost everything. But it could be the best thing that ever happened to her. After the death of her fiancé, Gray (Jennifer Garner) moves in with her late love’s best friends. While Sam (Kevin Smith) and Dennis (Sam Jaeger) do their best to cheer Gray up, Fritz (Timothy Olyphant) doesn’t seem to care. Once Gray breaks through Fritz’s defenses, however, she finally sees why her fiancé thought so highly of him. As they spend more time together, Gray learns that her chances for love have not died out with her fiancé. But when some surprise guests show up on their doorstep, it’ll take the love of all of her new friends to help Gray learn that life may be messy, but love is messier.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great date flick, January 29, 2007

By	Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Catch and Release (DVD)

Gray (Jennifer Garner) thought that she and her fiance Grady would be getting married this weekend, but instead she's attending his funeral. Already destroyed at the loss of what could have been, she's devastated to learn that Grady had a secret life that he kept from her including a million dollar estate and a toddler love child. When the mother of said child comes looking for Grady, she must confront the past in order to have a future. Juliette Lewis gives her all as the slightly trampy quasi-Earth mother.

As Gray comes to terms with his betrayal, she turns to his roommates for solace and a place to stay since she can no longer afford the house they were renting. Through this quasi-extended family, she discovers the Grady she never knew, as well as the Gray that she is now becoming, and finds herself getting closer to his lothario friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), as friends Sam and Dennis also experience difficulty dealing with the loss of their friend.

Writer/director Susannah Grant, best known as the scribe behind "Erin Brokovich" and "In Her Shoes," has created a poignant story of love, loss, and forgiveness. Kevin Smith shows a serious side as well as provides comic relief as Sam, the inspirational comment writer (okay, typist) for "Constant Comment Teas." Veteran British actress Fiona Shaw, hysterical as the horny headmistress of the tony boarding school in "Three Men and a Little Lady," dons an American accent and gives a heartwarming performance of a mother who just wants her son back. And Juliette Lewis is a bit chiched in the role of flighty masseuse Maureen, who apparently doesn't own a pair of flat shoes.

Though some might find the romance between Gray and Fritz develop a little too quickly, I thought it was handled tastefully given the love-hate relationship between them and how thin the line between the two can be (though the ending was a bit rushed). Missing from the film was Grady himself - a couple flashbacks with him would have added depth to the relationship between Gray and Grady and given us a chance to find out what made him such a touchstone for the five lead characters.

The disc's special features are minimal - just lots of movie trailers and commentary - nothing to write home about.

40 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprise, grief can be funny & Kevin Smith can ACT!, February 11, 2007

By	Robert Barnwell "BobTheCopywriter" (Johnson City, Tennessee) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Okay, most of the time a film tries to be part comedy, part drama and part buddy picture, what it ends up being is a total wreck! Catch and Release beats the odds by being all the above while avoiding total wreck status. It's that rarest of things, a film that reveals you don't have to be married or be blood to grieve for somone you love and how many emotions grieving can reveal... including humor.

There is that chick-flick quality that will have guys begging off, but fortunately for me Kevin Smith acting in a film he didn't direct was enough to convince me to go. The man can actually act, and not just in his own films. Unlike other films where a nonactor tries to step up, Kevin Smith was not a blank space on the screen. He held his own and then some. There's even a certain degree of self parody of his profound-statement-delivering Silent Bob charater.

Moving on from Kevin, everyone else also did an excellent job. Jennifer Garner (Alias), Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood), Julliette Lewis, Sam Jaeger, Fiona Shaw and everyone else turned in strong performances as people trying to come to terms with the grief of losing a best friend, a fiancee, a provider and a son.

I found myself laughing at the horrible yet comic realism.

From what I understand this is Susannah Grants major motion picture directorial debut, but it didn't feel like it. Already an extremely well proven screen writer, this may be Susannah's first movie directing job, but with this many laughs and this much emotion, I know it won't be her last.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, September 16, 2007

By	Bridget Sage "Love2review" (Albany,NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Catch and Release (Video On Demand)

The premise of this movie seems quite depressing but Jennifer Garner lightens it up with her beautiful smile and comededic acting. She meshes well with her male costars and she fits great into the "one of the guys" role. I always liked her in a romantic comedy aspect liken to "13 going on 30" so this was right up my alley. Well worth renting