Hot Summer

A care free movie about the love of base ball and the opposite sex. Well, Freddie Prinze is the hot shot pitcher trying to make his mark in life while mowing lawns. Along comes Jessica Biel and he is head over heels in love. Playing base ball and making the big time is his goal, but the super rich father of the opposite sex has other diabolical plans and doesn't want the guy who mows the lawn involved with his daughter. But as happens, love congers all and Freddie and Jessica are united in the end. Ad nauseum. Predictable. But a lighthearted movie and worth the time to watch.

`Summer Catch' gets points for trying hard, but it is saddled with so many liabilities that it crashes and burns without getting much altitude. The script is a mish mash of tired themes. Small town boy makes good meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets baseball underdog gets big break. The film tries to bill itself as another `Bull Durham' but it has none of the subtlety, comedy or insider perspective of that film. Mostly this is just another lightweight Freddie Prinze, Jr. romantic comedy where Jessica Biel is the catch of the day.

Prinze plays his standard romantic hero role and tries to throw in some baseball. He is fair at both but keeps getting outshined by his supporting cast. I've never really understood the big sensation over Jessica Biel. She shows in this film that her acting is far inferior to her looks. Biel and Prinze interact like marble statues, nice to look at but no chemistry whatever.

The best performances were given by supporting cast members. Fred Ward does a terrific job as Ryan's dad. Brian Dennehy is always fabulous in supporting roles and does not disappoint as the coach of the A's. Brittany Murphy does a fantastic wild thing, with a provocative earthiness that is simultaneously seductive and cute.

There is not much substance here. The baseball scenes are weak and the romance is tepid. The film has some endearing moments but fails to distinguish itself except that it gets goofy far too often. I rated it a 5/10. Fans of Prinze and Biel will enjoy seeing them look sexy for an hour and three quarters. Others might want to miss it.

Summer Catch is a romantic comedy about a local college baseball player (Freddy Prinze Jr.) playing in the Cape Cod baseball league, who falls in love with a rich girl, Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel), who is home in cape cod for the summer and is going to leave to San Francisco to work for her rich uncle because her father told her to. The Cape Cod Baseball league is a league of the finest college baseball players who are bought together to play in a summer league using wooden bats. These players are usually close to making the Major League and getting paid. It is said that 1 out of 6 major league players has played in the Cape Cod league. Many scouts come to watch these games. Prinze plays the baseball player Ryan Dunne who is a Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde type pitcher. He always starts the game well but ultimately comes to the point where he loses his focus and blows it. Prinze is always seen as a failure to his father and his brother. They think that he will end up cutting grass for his father for the rest of his life. Jessica Biel, has rich parents and can have whatever she wants. She falls in love with Ryan Dunne and is caught between choosing her fathers wishes, moving to San Francisco and working for her uncle, or staying with Ryan whether he makes it to the big leagues or not. At first Ryan is not a hit with some of his teammates such as the Dodger Blue, Eric Van Leemer, who turned down a 2 million dollar contract. Eric acts kind of a character foil for Ryan. They are both off the wall pitchers, Eric has a glove that is different colors and has flames, while Ryan just blows up on the field but Ryan found his success in the end by working hard at it. Eric just always had the talent and never had to look deeper to find his pitching groove. But Ryan becomes good friends with his other teammates such as Billy "Bru" Brubaker, Miles Dalrymple and Mickey "Domo" Dominguez (Wilmer Valderama). The movie does have its funny moments such as the times that Ryan and Bru wear the thongs or how Domo's "baseball mother" loves the young cape cod baseball players and gives Domo his own private show which involves a cucumber (lets leave it at that). But baseball and love stories do not mix. The movies ending is horrible, just as the final baseball game gets to its climax, Ryan is 2 outs away from the baseball Mecca of achievements for a pitcher, a no-hitter, he leaves it for Tenley Parrish. I just feel that he should have at least pitched the no-hitter instead of taking himself out. In the end, Ryan Dunne did make the Major Leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies, and ironically, he still has the destruction point in the big leagues because he gives up a homer. After watching this movie, writers have found a way to turn the American pastime game of baseball into a chick flick.

Summer Catch was not the worst movie I've ever seen, but it could have made it there with a little more trying. The best actors in the movie were either given little to work with in trite, cliched roles, or were not given enough screen time to showcase their abilities. Bruce Davison, Brian Dennehey, and Jason Gedrick, as Jessica Biel's snobbish father, the gruff coach with a heart of gold, and Freddie Prinze's older brother, who settled for a career as a bartender instead of aspiring for more, are, respectively, the former. The latter include Marc Blucas (Riley on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Christian Kane (Lindsey McDonald on Angel, also Love Song, Crossfire Trail, Broken Hearts Club), and Wilmer Valderrama (That 70's Show). All three do get to show some of their stuff on the diamond and appear to be athletically talented. But they are wasted otherwise. Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jessica Biel don't seem to generate any real sparks. The little girl (Tenley's little sister) who wants to be the team mascot is cute, and Fred Ward acquits himself well as Freddie's father. Beverly D'Angelo should never, never have participated in the excruciatingly bad imitation (perhaps parody should be the better word) of Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham. However, I will buy this when it comes out on video because I can fast forward through Freddie and see just the parts I want!

Yesterday I watched this movie in Pay-TV - okay, it just happened because of Jessica Biel, and in two scenes... whoa!

The movie is a mixture of an usual Teenie-Lovestory and an usual Sports Drama. All of it you have seen a thousand times in other movies and when you watch the first five minutes, you know how this movie ends.

I'm rating it 5/10.