Catch and Release
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: January 26, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
20
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Rough around the edges, but once you get used to the laconic pace, the plot grooves along nicely. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Take away the death and revelations that follow, and Catch And Release has the makings of a weekly half-hour network comedy--call it "Four's Company." Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
As soon as it pitches camp in generic romantic-comedy territory, it loses its intriguing edge and becomes one more predictable girl-meets-unsuitable-boy story. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Although I find the term "chick flick" odious, I imagine that Columbia Pictures regards Catch and Release as exactly that, although there are signs that Ms. Grant was reaching for something more layered and subtle than the usual fairy-tale formula Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
An oddly appealing, if innocuous, movie of considerable charm. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
One of those movies where the small pleasures stack up high enough to dwarf the disappointments. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Because so little of it works, the film is disposable. Read full review
50
VarietyLael Loewenstein
A so-so romantic dramedy. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Garner is no more than serviceable as the tightly wound Gray. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Gray says she hates fishermen who catch and release: Getting jerked around hurts the jaw. See this movie and you'll know the feeling. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
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. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
As his wisecracking roomie, Smith keeps this contrived chick flick afloat, managing to steer past the kind of egregious product placement that would have capsized a less agile performer. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It's not a comedy-drama, really. It's let's-all-share therapy in beautiful Boulder, Colo. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
There's a funkier and more interesting movie in Maureen, a character played by Juliette Lewis. Maureen is a single mom, a massage therapist, and a dimwit California follower of every new-age theory out there. She's a nasal, needy wreck, and Catch and Release is torn between adoring her and making ruthless fun of her. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
So superficial and formulaic that even Garner's mega-watt grin can't completely save it. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Grant's film plays like a two-hour episode of "Friends" intercut with "Seventh Heaven." Those sounds you hear are wisecrack, heartbreak, heartbreak, wisecrack, wisecrack. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
I just don't know any chick who will make sense of this flick -- it's that blitheringly out of touch with present psychosexual (never mind feminist) time and space. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
An unfunny, undramatic comedy-drama that asks us to care about lying idiots making implausible choices. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Now it's just another romantic comedy, neither terribly bad nor truly great, buoyed along on currents of hope and post-traumatic good cheer. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Throughout, Garner retains a permanent grimace, as if persuasive acting can be achieved by contorting cheek muscles and pouting lips. It's not just depressing to watch; it's tiring. We want to tell her to relax -- for our own relief. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The film suffers from a style that settles for pleasant or touching at the cost of spontaneous or impassioned. Too bad, because Ms. Garner is a genuinely pleasing presence.
40
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Won't make anybody’s "best of" lists a year from now, but it's nowhere near as offensive as some other examples of this moldy genre. Read full review
40
EmpireTony Horkins
A film with a fishing metaphor for a title should have come with sharper hooks. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Catch and Release is not worth catching. Release yourself from boredom by giving it a miss. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Really, women drag their husbands and boyfriends to films like writer-director Susannah Grant's emotionally bogus Catch and Release and I feel their pain. They should get a free Boys Night Out pass every time they make the sacrifice. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
Despite their hackneyed characters, Smith and Lewis create a tiny spark and add a little humour. Without them, Catch and Release would be totally dead in the water. Read full review
38
PremiereEthan Alter
Time doesn't just slow down while you're watching Catch and Release -- it actually comes to a dead stop. Read full review
12
New York PostKyle Smith
The chick comedy-drama Catch and Release may look bland, but it's not. It's worse. To rise to the level of blandness, it would need to have a few gallons of Tabasco dumped into it. Read full review
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