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In times of hardship and struggle, when we are weak, that is surprisingly when we are made strong by those who love us. Life changing events can bring out an individual’s best qualities.

Catch and Release is a heartfelt story about such an event, to which anyone who has lost much can relate. It is raw and real, a reminder of how fragile life is and the significant role that friends, family, and strangers play in shaping it. As a tight group of friends try to cope with loss, each one’s struggle becomes deeply personal. In the process, they (re)discover their true selves, while woven through it all is a complex and powerful love story.

I would like to have seen richer character development, but Jennifer Garner (Gray) was perfect and Kevin Smith hilarious, while Timothy Olyphant was interestingly gentle, mysterious, and suave - a refreshing role that I have never seen him play before. However, I disliked Juliette Lewis (not a huge fan anyway), and her character seemed especially out of place here. What in the world was Gray’s fiancé thinking anyway?? Seriously, though, it seemed to throw the focus of the movie way off.

If it weren’t for all the comic relief, mostly from Smith, I think I would have been annoyed and bored, but in the end I appreciated the attempt to make sense of things when life gets messy. That is when one learns who a person really is, and that is what makes this movie such an unexpected gem.

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