CATCH AND RELEASE — ** — Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith; rated PG-13 (vulgarity, profanity, drugs, sex, violence, nude artwork).

"Catch and Release" tries to hook audiences by changing gears between drama and comedy. It's a formula that's proven successful for many so-called "chick flicks," but here it fails to reel you in.

The story basically ping-pongs between serious and lighthearted moments, and has the unsettling habit of playing a few, deadly serious scenes in a rather flippant, lighthearted way.

Consequently, it's hard to tell whether any aspect of the movie should be taken seriously.

That includes the performance of Jennifer Garner, who stars as Gray Wheeler, a Colorado woman whose dream wedding never happened. Her fiance was killed in a rafting accident before they could head down the aisle.

Lacking any reasonable housing options, the grieving woman moves in with her fiance's housemates — the earnest Dennis (Sam Jaeger) and the slovenly Sam (Kevin Smith). The already-crowded house also has a less-welcome presence, womanizing filmmaker Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), who has been concealing secrets about Gray's longtime love.

The biggest of these secrets include a substantial family inheritance and a tryst with a massage therapist (Juliette Lewis), who also happens to have a child (newcomer Joshua Friesen).

Most of the various story threads turn out exactly as you'd expect. And the inevitable romance between Gray and Fritz seems forced (Olyphant and Garner just don't have the sort of chemistry to make this relationship believable).

Also, screenwriter/director's Susannah Grant's film is a little overcrowded with characters. Few of them are fully fleshed-out — Lewis in particular, as a new-age caricature. Filmmaker-turned-actor Smith, however, turns out to be a pleasant surprise; his natural goofiness helps offset some of his performance deficiencies.

"Catch and Release" is rated PG-13 for crude sexual references and humor, scattered profanity, drug content (marijuana use and prescription drug abuse), simulated sex, brief domestic violence and glimpses of nude artwork. Running time: 115 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com