Catch and Release

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Catch and Release

PG-13

Released Jan 26, 2007

1h 51m

Comedy

Drama

Romance

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

23%

Tomatometer

132 Reviews

55%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

A woman (Jennifer Garner) struggles to rebuild her life in the wake of her fiance's untimely death and the discovery of secrets he kept from her. Along the way, she bonds with his best pals (Sam Jaeger, Kevin Smith), including a n'er-do-well (Timothy Olyphant) she initially disliked.

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Critics Consensus

A romantic dramedy with boring, stock characters and contrived situations.

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Claudia Puig

USA Today

Release yourself from boredom by giving it a miss.

Rated: 1.5/4

Sep 1, 2007

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

A ghastly sort of Nora Ephron-ish good taste pervades this romcom-tearjerker.

Rated: 1/5

Mar 24, 2007

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Stella Papamichael

BBC.com

Juliette Lewis helps break the monotony with a sparkling turn as a ditsy skeleton in the dead fiancé's closet and Kevin Smith spouts a few good zingers as the slacker housemate. Sadly it's not enough to catch and keep hold of your interest.

Rated: 2/5

Mar 23, 2007

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Randall King

Winnipeg Free Press

The film slowly and credibly builds a bridge between two diametrically opposite individuals. Call it another little triumph.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jul 16, 2020

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Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

A story of self-discovery Catch and Release is ... well it's horribly, horribly dull is what it is. It's like an entire season of a mediocre primetime soap opera squeezed into a couple of hours.

Rated: 5/10

Mar 18, 2011

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Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

...harbours a secret crush on Gray but, hey, so does everybody, since Gray has fairies and butterflies flying out of her vagina.

Rated: 0/4

Jul 12, 2009

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Elaine D

Awful - characters are wooden and the story is poor. Pity because there are some excellent actors in it who are always good - like Fiona Shaw and Juliette Lewis, they can’t save it though

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/07/25

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Yuri B

Not exactly what I thought it would be. Loved Kevin Smith & Jennifer Garner... Juliette Lewis too. The story was kind of wonky, but if you're simply looking for a cute movie to watch that you won't completely hate then this will do nicely.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/18/25

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Fiona S

Jennifer Beale walks through this without connecting. Wardrobe and makep have followed directions to make her grieving and suburban. Her fiance came from a good family yet his shared house is also dreary and a bit low-bar. Could have done with a bit more style. And losing her last scene's outfit - who put her in baggy half-length pants, Walmart singlet and stringy hair??? Romance killed.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/22/25

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Zahed I

I started watching with low expectations but really enjoyed the movie. Sometimes you have to see that the critics probably only saw half the movie.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/19/25

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Igor S

I love Jennifer Garner, but it was so hard to like her character here, due to all the choices she makes. But hey, at least it wasn't your typical character. Maybe the point was to show she was even more disfunctional than her late fiancée. Most of the fun, comes from Kevin Smith, who made the movie so much better than it actually is(even if he is too perfect of a character). In the end, it helped pass the time, even if the pacing got worse as the movie went on and it stretched a bit more than it should have.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/16/25

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Jayne B

I usually agree with Rotten Tomatoes but I’m glad I disregarded the rating and gave it a go as I enjoyed the movie and it didn’t seem dated. I thought it was well acted and was a mix of sadness and comedy and good to see that happiness was found after grief. A bit of a cliche ending but an easy watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/13/24

Full Review

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Susannah Grant

Director

Jennifer Garner

Gray

Timothy Olyphant

Fritz

Sam Jaeger

Dennis

Kevin Smith

Sam

Juliette Lewis

Maureen

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Synopsis

A woman (Jennifer Garner) struggles to rebuild her life in the wake of her fiance's untimely death and the discovery of secrets he kept from her. Along the way, she bonds with his best pals (Sam Jaeger, Kevin Smith), including a n'er-do-well (Timothy Olyphant) she initially disliked.

Director: Susannah Grant
Producer: Jenno Topping
Screenwriter: Susannah Grant
Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Production Co: Columbia, Tall Trees Productions
Rating: PG-13 (Sexual Content|Language|Some Drug Use)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 26, 2007, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $15.3M
Runtime: 1h 51m
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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