"CATCH AND RELEASE" (2006) ..... C ... Written and directed by Susannah Grant, this movie is another sterling example of how hard it is to get it right when trying to create a romantic comedy that is worth seeing. Grant's earlier screenplays include "In Her Shoes" as well as the Oscar-winning movie, "Erin Brokovich," so she obviously has the ability to write a good script. Unfortunately, she is way off the mark with her screenplay for this film.

At the very minimum, a romantic comedy should be bright and smart with sharp characterizations. We have to like both of the leads and they must sparkle with an on-screen chemistry that gives us a shared emotional stake in their finally coming together at the end of the movie. A comedy should also have supporting characters who are interesting and likable, as their presence can add so much flavor to a story.

There is little of any of this in "Catch and Release." The result is that this film turns into a tedious bore due to our lack of involvement in the outcome of its characters. Whatever a romantic comedy should be, it should never be boring, a situation amplified here by the fact that this movie drags on for more than two hours.

This movie could serve as a textbook case study in future classes at a film school in how not to write a romantic comedy. How badly was this movie written? Well, it was written so badly that I was cheering for the other guy, the wrong guy, to win the heart of Gray Wheeler (Jennifer Garner). I was rooting for her to end up with Dennis (Sam Jaeger) instead of Fritz (Timothy Olyphant). Grant would have me believe that Fritz is the right man, but I was never convinced of this. I was disappointed, and then I was angry, because the story has her fall in love with the one character who shows himself to be an insensitive lout during the first few scenes. So, what's with this?

Yes, a lot of classical romances, beginning with Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," have the two eventual lovers despise each other upon their first meeting, but then the argument has to be made as to why their initial impressions are wrong and that these two are really perfect for each other. This didn't happen here and I felt that I did not know these characters. Grant did so little to sell me on why they should ever be together that I was unable to care about them.

For me, the chemistry between Garner and Olyphant was not convincing. The movie would have us believe that a relationship should exist just because they are in a "meet-cute" situation, surely hardly the case here after the death of her fiancé and a romance involving one of his best friends. Furthermore, my big no-no about romantic comedies is that the two leads should not fall into bed before they fall into love, and that is exactly what happens here. Where is the romance in that?

Garner comes to this role after her breakout career on television as the star of "Alias." I hate to say this, but Garner's charisma does not translate well from the small screen to the silver screen. The camera seems to love some stars, but she is not one of them if this movie is anything to go by.

Another point of considerable annoyance, annoyance, mind you, and this in a comedy, is with Mattie (Joshua Friesen), the young son of Maureen (Juliette Lewis). Maureen is a quirky New Age masseuse who is a disaster as a mother. Kids should either be absent or cute in romantic comedies, but never undisciplined little brats. Mattie is just such a child. He plays a monster in the making with a severe social maladjustment. This should not be the subject matter for a comedy as it is so very sad. I didn't find this to be at all funny and the underlying problem for me is that no one in the movie gave this child the discipline that he so desperately needs.

There are, thankfully, a few salvaging characters in the movie. The reliable Kevin Smith plays his usual role as the lovable sidekick and buddy to everybody. He also has the best lines in this film, which on rare occasions are fairly witty. And Fiona Shaw plays an upper-crust society mother who starts out as a cold and calculating witch and then unexpectedly warms up into a real person.

The plot involves four close college friends who have come back to the same house in Boulder, Colorado to celebrate the wedding of one of their own to his college sweetheart. The fiancé unexpectedly dies in a freakish (unexplained) accident right before the start of the movie, which commences with his funeral. The three men remain in Boulder for a while to support the grieving fiancé. She will need more support as shocking discoveries about the secret life of her fiancé begin to bubble to the surface shortly after his death. 124 minutes and rated PG-13 for sexual content and some drug use.