Summer Catch (2001)
Average Rating: 3/10
Reviews Counted: 87
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 80
Cliched and predictable, Summer Catch is a reminder of better films.
Average Rating: 2.8/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 27
Cliched and predictable, Summer Catch is a reminder of better films.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.6/5
User Ratings: 49,740
Movie Info
This blend of sports and youthful romantic comedy is from director Michael Tollin, who previously produced the sports drama Varsity Blues (1999). Freddie Prinze Jr. stars as Ryan Dunne, a ballplayer who's spending the summer as a pitcher for the famed, highly prestigious Cape Cod League, a non-professional farm team that has turned out numerous baseball legends. Ryan's under special pressure on a number of fronts. He's the first local boy to earn a slot in the league in years, and his
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Cast
-
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Ryan Dunne -
Jessica Biel
Tenley Parrish -
Fred Ward
Sean Dunne -
Jason Gedrick
Mike Dunne -
Brittany Murphy
Dede Mulligan -
Gabriel Mann
Auggie -
Bruce Davison
Rand Parrish -
Matthew Lillard
Billy Brubaker -
Brian Dennehy
Coach John Schiffner -
Marc Blucas
Miles Dalrymple -
Wilmer Valderrama
Mickey Dominguez -
Corey Pearson
Eric Van Leemer -
Christian Kane
Dale Robin -
Cedric Pendleton
Calvin Knight -
Jed Rhein
Pete -
Zena Grey
Katie Parrish -
Curt Gowdy
Himself -
Pat Burrell
Himself -
Dave Collins
Himself -
Doug Glanville
Himself -
Grif Griffis
Himself -
Jeff Kellogg
Himself -
Mike Liberthal
Himself -
Mike Aaron
Himself -
Mike Lieberthal
Mike Lieberthal -
Dick Allen
Scout in Black Hat -
Randi Layne
Vivi Parrish -
Traci Dinwiddie
Lauren -
Susan Gardner
Marjorie -
Courtney Driver
Jenna -
Jack Baun
Chris Hunt -
Tammy Christine Arno...
Vassar Graduate -
Tim Lucason
Hyannis Batter -
Kenny Gasperson
Statistician -
Mark Robert Ellis
Umpire -
Herbert W. Gains
Angry Fan -
Thaddeus Hill
Coach Sully -
Brock Keene
Chatham Pitcher -
Mike Ribaudo
Chatham A #1 -
Matt Hobbie
Chatham A #2 -
John C. McGinley
Talent Scout
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Summer Catch Trailer & Photos
All Critics (87) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (80) | DVD (11)
Maybe the filmmakers figured that the audience for Summer Catch is too young to have seen Bull Durham.
When it comes to funny business, Tollin's got game, and he makes the most of some talented supporting players on his bench.
[An] awful light drama.
Don't catch it. Drop it.
Top CriticBecause I'm a baseball fan, I tend to be an easy mark for baseball-themed movies, but something as badly focused and feebly scripted as Summer Catch just makes me wish for the Fall.
Depending wholly upon the blinkered empathy of daydreamy teen viewers, a typical FPJ movie skims over character, plot, and dialogue.
Despite an enjoyable turn from Brittany Murphy, the clichéd plot (local poor boy pitches his way to the Major League) ensures that's the best this forgettable teen fodder can hope for.
This story has its share of bad acting. But Summer Catch turns out to be a well-meaning, light, and fluffy comedy with plenty of good giggles.
As the script works toward its big-game finale, it pauses now and then to rip off Bull Durham, to let Biel spout Successories-worthy words of encouragement, and to touch on subplots involving Prinze's familiar-faced teammates.
The film steps up a notch when the action is on the field. However, many directors before him have portrayed the beloved sport better.
A baseball movie with no baseball, no movie, and absolutely no love involved.
If this is what the boys of summer are offering, I say bring on football season -- now!
Not that this is a particularly dispicable film, it just doesn't try to do anything new and delivers mostly wooden performances.
Perhaps Freddie is simply a pawn in some sinister plan to destroy his career...
Call this one foul.
Yawn.
Freddie Prinze Jr. has become the opposite of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. His face on a movie poster guarantees a bad time.
Whitman is right: Baseball is our poetic register, and so I've become whimsical for the days of tee-ball and George Brett and when baseball movies were beautiful.
Primarily to blame for this mess is the leaden script by Kevin Falls and John Gatins, which absorbs a bushel of baseball clichs while demonstrating a singular inability to present love, sex or even bawdy jokes.
Check it out if you're drunk and looking for a shoulder-shrugging time-waster...
Notable only for the spectacle of watching both Prinze and Biel getting out-performed in the same motion picture by Matthew Lillard.
In the interest of maintaining the status quo running time of 80-some minutes, we are subjected to a painfully ugly series of subplots and side characters.
Audience Reviews for Summer Catch
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