Full Review

"Catch and Release" (Columbia) is a dour, slow-moving romantic comedy about Gray Wheeler (Jennifer Garner), whose seemingly ideal fiancee Grady is killed shortly before their wedding.

Since she can't afford the house she shared with Grady on her own, Gray moves in with her fiance's buddies Sam (Kevin Smith) and Dennis (Sam Jaeger), with Grady's old Don Juan friend, Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), joining them for good measure.

(An early scene where a distraught Gray takes refuge in the bathtub during her fiance's funeral reception, and Fritz comes in with his latest conquest for a quick sexual encounter, is gratuitously distasteful.)

To her great shock, Gray learns that Grady fathered a child with out-of-town massage therapist Maureen (Juliette Lewis), and though Fritz informs her that the affair happened before Gray met Grady, this turns out not to be true.

Maureen eventually comes to town with the child in tow and becomes part of the crowded household, and there are ensuing romantic complications.

Writer-director Susannah Grant's formulaic chick flick -- Gray gets to keep the sweet memory of Grady, while having two of her roommates, Dennis and Fritz, vying for her affections -- strains credibility, and lacks a consistent tone. Why, for instance, after enduring Grady's infidelity, does she show such eager and prurient interest when she (wrongly) guesses Dennis might be having an affair with a married woman?

So, too, when Gray sees Maureen for the first time, surely she has more profound concerns than what she pathetically voices: "She's very sexy, isn't she?"

The comic elements are also lame. When Dennis tenderly tries to carry the medicated and sleeping Gray to her bed where she'll be more comfortable, Sam intercedes, and as they comically tussle with her limp body, they accidentally drop her hard on the floor, and then instead of showing realistic concern, simply giggle about it.

The acting -- apart from Lewis' quirky turn -- is strictly bland (especially Olyphant -- projecting little more depth than a daytime soap hunk -- as her principal love interest), and is unredeemed by the overall message of forgiveness and a reasonably moral wrap-up.

A metaphorical fishing motif -- as per the title -- runs through the film. But apart from some stunning sylvan locales of Boulder, Colo., "Catch and Release" never completely reels you in.

The film contains permissive sexual mores, intimate encounters (one intense but fully clothed, the other gauzily photographed with no actual nudity), sexual banter and innuendo, some crude language and expressions and profanity, a suicide attempt and drug use. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.