- In a world where people speak the truth and have no concept of deception, a young man about to lose everything invents the lie and goes on to change not just the nature of movie-making, but creates the basis of religion. After much effort, he also gets the girl he loves. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â COMEDY Rating:Â PG-13 Age:Â 883929047871 UPC:Â 883929047871 Manufacturer
CATCH AND RELEASE - DVD MovieJennifer Garner's lips grow more Angelina-esque every year. In the romantic comedy
Catch and Release, Garner (
Alias, 13 Going On 30) plays Gray Wheeler, a young woman whose fiance dies unexpectedly before the wedding, leaving Gray unable to afford her home--so she moves in with her fiance's best friends, Sam (Kevin Smith, director of
Clerks and
Dogma) and Dennis (Sam Jaeger,
Lucky Number Slevin). But the presence of another old friend named Fritz (Timothy Olyphant, !
Deadwood) leads to the unveiling of a secret: Gray's fiance had a child with another woman.
Catch and Release lacks the clear story structure that most romantic comedies are built on, but trades it for a richer sense of the ambiguities of human relationships. Garner, though lovely and personable, is a bit bland--fortunately, she's surrounded by actors with all kinds of edges, including Smith (who shows an unexpected and uncloying earnest side), Fiona Shaw (from the
Harry Potter movies) as the fiance's grieving mother, and Juliette Lewis (
Cape Fear), who demonstrates once again her powers as a fearless and surprising actress.
Catch and Release is an uneven movie, with a remarkably elegant visual style that sometimes clashes with the workmanlike dialogue, but it can't be written off as the same old Hollywood claptrap. Though a happy ending is inevitable, the path it takes has some surprising turns and flashes of unexpected emotional depth.--!
Bret Fetzer
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SIGNIFICANT OTHERS:SERIES - DVD MovieThe 1998 Fox television series Significant Others amounted to six episodes (three of which never aired) before cancellation, but this two-disc set strongly suggests that the witty, nimble dramedy from the creators of Party of Five deserved a longer run. In a nutshell, PO5 went on hiatus in '98, and irritated fans of that series ignored replacement program Significant Others, which follows the career and romance hassles of three twentysomething best friends. Fox pulled the plug on Significant Others very quickly, but fans of actor Scott Bairstow (who went on to a recurring role on PO5) and two terrific actresses, Jennifer Garner and Elizabeth Mitchell (who next turned up in the PO5 spin-off, Time of Your Life), should definitel! y look into this truncated project.
Bairstow plays Henry, an aspiring writer reduced to churning out website pornography and inexperienced enough to enter, wide-eyed, into an affair with his older, married boss. Campbell (Eion Bailey of Band of Brothers), in defiance of his parents' wishes, stumbles through initial steps to become a producer of children's videos; he's also coping with the shock of discovering pals Henry and Nell (Garner) are getting it on and that an old girlfriend (Mitchell) is marrying his shallow, older brother. Talented Nell, destined for big things but afraid of commitment, hops from one important job to the next and develops an attachment to her absent father's best friend. As with PO5 (and Sisters, another primetime series from some of the same producers), Significant Others treats serious topics with smart dialogue and enough of a light touch to make the series feel comforting and familiar. Still, that's not enough f! or the irrepressible Garner (Alias, 13 Going on 30), who se enchanting, tragi-comic performance on this series is almost larger-than-life and reminds one of such Golden Age stars as Jean Arthur and Ginger Rogers. --Tom KeoghGHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST - DVD MovieStarring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner and directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls), Ghost of Girlfriends Past seems to be lacking some of the chemistry we have seen from the stars in similar romantic comedies, but is still entertaining and worth a watch. McConaughey plays a womanizer named Conner Mead far from settling down who is forced to take a Christmas Carol-type journey through girlfriends of his past, present and future while attending his brother’s wedding weekend. Jenny (Garner) is the childhood sweetheart and longstanding object of his affection. Will he be able to grow up and admit his love for Jenny before the weekend is over, or will he continue his man-whore ways and lose her forever? Although McConaughey and Garner both t! read familiar territory, they’re so good at it that you don’t mind. Some of the best scenes in the movie involve Michael Douglas, who is perfect as Conner’s dead uber-womanizing mentor Uncle Wayne, and Lacey Chabert, who is also hilarious as the stressed out bride-to-be. Yes, it’s predictable and cheesy, but it has some real moments and provides laughs--and that is exactly what a romantic comedy is for. --Lisanne ChastainINVENTION OF LYING - DVD MovieIt's official: Ricky Gervais is a genius. He may not have cured cancer or discovered a new branch of mathematics, but having created The Office, Extras, and now The Invention of Lying has secured him a place in the history of comedy. The Invention of Lying imagines a world in which everyone unfailingly tells the truth; they don't even know what fiction is. Every thought, however humiliating or harsh, tumbles out unvarnished. Then one day, a desperate unemployed writer named Mark (Ger! vais) concocts a lie--and in a world where everyone is unfaili! ngly hon est, a lie is believed with total and absolute gullibility. Mark can get anything he wants...but the one thing he truly wants is the love of a girl named Anna (Jennifer Garner, Alias, Juno), and she's the one person he can't bring himself to lie to.
The Invention of Lying balances a brilliant overall idea with inspired comic bits and deft cameo turns by a star-studded cast (among the many famous faces in bit roles are Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, Jason Bateman, Christopher Guest, Tina Fey, Jeffrey Tambor, and more). The second half of the movie, which follows Mark's romantic pursuit of Anna, isn't quite as marvelous as the gradual unfolding of the situation and Mark's grappling with his strange new ability, but that doesn't keep the movie from being a unique and dazzling comedy. Simply not to be missed. Also featuring comedian Louis C.K., Rob Lowe, and Jonah Hill. --Bret Fetzer
