07-05-12 Catch and Release (2006)

Seen: May 9th, 2007
Format: Blu-Ray
Rating: 6

I was kind of excited to see this film. I'm a minor Kevin Smith fan and had read some of his blogs about the shooting. I like Tim Olyphant as well, and have had a crush on Garner since Pearl Harbor. It looked amusing and maybe heart rending, so why not?

It seems to be more about placing mostly interesting characters in a strange situation and seeing what happens. The answer is: lots of things. Perhaps a little too much, even. It's kinda The Big Chill, with a twist.

The problem with this is that some of these things are interesting and some aren't. Some of them are amusing, some are slightly tragic and others are just plain pitiful and boring. With the exception of the budding love story, these are generally handled with equal weight. This may be realistic, in a slice of life kind of way, but it doesn't necessarily make for a good film.

The core idea seems to be the reaction to a friend's death. Been there, done that, no fun fertile ground. But that doesn't seem to be enough. We can't just watch these characters go through their grief, support each other or not. Have arguments, grieve. On top of this there's an added twist which throws the whole thing sideways.

This in itself is not an issue.

The problem comes in that we're supposed to react to the complete situation. The twist forces us to deal with both sides of the problem, or perhaps choose one. This pattern is repeated as we come to know the characters better. It continually requires us to make choices, re-evaluate our position and learn about ourselves.

Again, this isn't a bad thing.

The real problems lies in couching all this self-reflection, growth and pain in a quasi romantic comedy. The comic relief may be welcome at times, but it tends to undermine the serious issues that we're presented with. Again, this is more "real-life", but I get enough of that on a daily basis.

And then there's the kid. He's pivotal, but is the only character that really gets shafted on the development front. He's alternately mischievous and cute. That's it. He's the cornerstone of the conceit, but is written and portrayed as some paper-thin Dennis the Menace caricature.

The end of the film is surprisingly pat as well. There's no real surprise here. That may be the strangest thing, that everything ends up pretty much as we'd expect, given the angst that we and the characters are put through. But again, it reflects real life, as it's an oft proved fact that all Massage Therapists eventually move to Boulder.

I really think that Susannah Grant has tapped into something here. I think that this was a great idea, with great characters, that just wasn't pruned enough. It's not too long, but there's too much going on to justify it all.

The Good: High Drama with a light fluffy comedic filling

The Bad: Child exploitation

The Ugly: Looking for love in all the wrong places