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SUMMER CATCH Send This Review to a Friend
There are two strikes at the outset against the baseball yarn set on Cape Cod. One is the script by Kevin Falls and John Gatins. Two is the script by Kevin Falls and John Gatins. The third strike comes with the finished film itself. "Summer Catch," which combines the lure of baseball with love and class problems, is a loser on virtually all counts. As fare aimed at the young summer movie-going crowd, it makes one homesick for "American Pie 2." There aren't enough comic capers and the personal dramas are simply plodding with awful dialogue, and there is little director Mike Tollin or the actors can do to solve the basic problems.
The story is built around the idea of college baseball players migrating to Cape Cod, Massachusetts for action in its summer baseball league, with pro scouts turning up to find new talent. Freddie Prinze, Jr., plays Ryan Dunne, who works for his father (Fred Ward) mowing lawns of the rich in Chatham. Ryan's dream is to play pro baseball, but he has a tendency to self-destruct. His father, a widower, is a loser, as is his brother, and Ryan believes both take pleasure whenever he fails. Part of the story involves familial resolutions, just one of the film's cliches.
When Ryan gets to know Tenley Parrish (played by Jessica Biel), the daughter of a rich dad (Bruce Davison) who is against letting his daughter love a guy who mows his lawn, Ryan's life is thrown into conflict. Can anything come of the relationship? Can Ryan transcend class barriers? Can he prove himself on the diamond as a pitcher with a potential career? Brian Dennehy plays the no-nonsense coach and mentor. Matthew Lillard plays the catcher Brubaker, who has his own problems proving himself. And so on. The film is peopled with assorted cliched characters getting into cliched situations.
That wouldn't be so bad if the film sprung to life. But it plods on like a game going endless extra innings. There's also a touch of bad taste even for films of this sort. A local woman who houses visiting athletes is known for her sexual initiations involving her use of a cucumber. It's a scene that should have been peeled away. A Warner Brothers release.
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