Jennifer Garner.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- California is locked in a cold snap that has frozen citrus fruits on the vine and inspired headlines about an arctic chill.

But Jennifer Garner is hot, hot, hot.

Fresh from the end of Alias (the hit action series that made her a star in its five-run run), still flush from having a baby girl Violet with new husband and potential Oscar nominee Ben Affleck, and just giggly girlish in general today, Garner is poised for a new phase in her life and career.

"I have it so good right now," the 34-year-old Texan says, flashing a mega-watt smile and adjusting herself in a Juicy top and Stella McCartney pants. "I'm afraid, if I tell you, it will get screwed up."

There are self-doubts, on occasion. "I have those moments in the middle of the night, of course. I don't think I would be human if I didn't. But I really try just to exist in it and feel how happy I am and just enjoy it."

Part of the enjoyment is being generated by the impending debut of Catch And Release, a bittersweet, tragedy-tinged, romantic comedy. It was written and directed by Susannah Grant, who garnered an Oscar nomination for writing Erin Brockovich. It has been ready for release for a year, prompting co-star and leading man Timothy Olyphant to dub it "Catch And Unreleased" because of the wait.

The delay was due to the final shooting schedule for Alias and the responsibilities of caring for her baby, Garner says. "I was kind of pushed to the brink just by going to work at all. The whole thing kind of overwhelmed me and I didn't want to short shrift Alias and I didn't want to short shrift the movie." She now dismisses concerns that pushing the release could affect the movie's success.

"I hope not. I think it's still a great story. I don't think it matters when it comes out. It certainly wasn't for the lack of any enthusiasm. I wanted them to wait."

She wanted to commit herself to the promotion, which is why she is at the Casa del Mar Hotel for interviews. "Now I'm just so happy because I can be here and feel good and I had a good night's sleep (her daughter has been teething and kept her awake many nights in December)."

Catch And Release showcases Garner as a young Colorado woman who attends the funeral of her fiance on the same day they were supposed to be married. He has just died in an extreme sports accident. The story chronicles how she discovers cruel secrets, rebuilds her life and gets help from a circle of friends who include Kevin Smith playing the scene-stealing best friend to the dead guy.

In a one-on-one interview, Smith asks the Toronto Sun what Garner is like in public. It seems like an odd question. The irascible filmmaker has been close friends with Affleck for years. He knows Garner already, calling her "a totally lovely girl" and praising "her spectacular bone structure."

He is relaxed enough to joke about how Affleck was "hedging his bets" by getting Garner preggers before proposing: "Which I kind of respected!" He is goofy enough to recount how, when Affleck visited the Catch And Release set in Vancouver, just as the romance was blooming, Affleck preferred to visit Garner in her trailer, and not hang out with Smith in his. "He said: 'Dude, you don't f--- me!' "

Yet Smith has an odd, slightly standoffish relationship with Garner, even though he respects her both as an actress and as a person. It has to do with the Jersey guy-thing he grew up with. None of his guy pals ever look their friends' girlfriends in the eye or get personal with them.

"You'll sit there and talk smack with any number of girls, but you don't relate like that with your friend's girlfriend, for some reason. And there's a bit of that I think in our relationship (referring to Garner). It has nothing to do with her. It's more how I came up. But, at the same time, she's West Virginia (where she was raised after being born in Houston) and I'm suburban New Jersey."

It is also a matter of class, Smith confesses. "Apparently, I have none and she has plenty."

Garner figures that Susannah Grant's screenplay for Catch And Release has the class. It is the reason she jumped at the chance to do the movie as a post-Alias release. "The writing itself is just so beautiful and speakable and playable and real. It is something that you just don't get to do."

The balance of comedy and tragedy appealed because it felt different than some other projects she has tackled. "You are either doing a comedy where you're pushing the comedy and trying to find 'the funny' or you are doing a drama where everything is really maudlin. This (Catch And Release) is the balance that kind of follows life patterns. It felt to me like something that was true."

Screenwriter Grant, who makes her directorial debut on Catch And Release, originally waited on Garner to cast the movie. Her friend Curtis Hanson, director of her script In Her Shoes, had advised her to always wait for the right actor, even if it meant delaying the start of a project.

Echoing Garner's observation, Grant says her script had both humour and pathos. "There are people who are a little stronger in one than the other and I knew that Jennifer could completely handle all of that. I knew that she could do that stuff."

Just as importantly, Grant says she saw innocence in Garner's eyes, crucial for the naive state that her character in Catch And Release is in, just as the story begins.

"You could look at her and believe that she doesn't know devastating heartbreak yet. There is nothing deeply wounded in her eyes, yet. But we can see it enter.

"I thought that was true of Jennifer. You could believe that life hadn't dealt her the really swift blow yet, and that was important for this character."

Meanwhile, back at home in Hollywood with Affleck and Violet, Garner is content to be a full-time mom, as she has been for six months straight, before heading back to work. "I don't think I can do two huge things back to back any more," she says of future projects. "I couldn't do a single lead on a hour-long drama any more."

It makes a difference to be a mom, she says, "just on a practical level. Then I have to really love something a lot to not be with my little girl every day."

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