Summer Catch | | Cast : | Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel | | Director : | Michael Tollin | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | August 24, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | September 02, 2003 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 29, 2005 | | Summary | Worth a look; a decent baseball flick about Cape Cod. | Content
 | One of the best things about this typical "Saturday afternoon TNT type movie" is the supporting cast. A nice choice of actors: Fred Ward, Matthew Lillard, Brian Dennehy, Bruce Davison, Beverly D'Angelo (in a non-credited role), Brittany Murphy, and a few unknowns who are all very believable.
Biel and Prinze both give decent performances, and I'd have to say Biel's was a tad better. Matthew Lillard steals the show in just about every movie he's in and this one is no exception. Fred Ward and Bruce Davison were excellent, while I felt Dennehy should have been given more things to say and do. The young girl who plays Biel's sister does a great job.
Jason Gedrick was annoying as most of his lines were mumbled and after skipping the DVD back several times, I still couldn't understand what he was saying during one speech, and actually had to turn on the English subtitles to find out what the heck he said?!?!? I don't think it's necessarily Gedrick's fault, as someone on the movie crew should have picked up that his lines weren't audible enough.
Some of the jokes are very funny, while there are also your typical flat ones. The subplot about one of the guys on the team having a thing for heavy women is hilarious.
I am a basefall fan from New England and have been to the Cape several times, but I never even knew about this Cape Cod league, so I am glad for the film shedding new light on this for me. Most of the film was shot in North Carolina though, and not Cape Cod.
Two final notes: Jessica Biel is actually on the commentary track, which it does not indicate on the DVD itself; and lastly, the name of Biel's character, Tenley, is rather out there.
See this flick. It's good. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 21, 2005 | | Summary | This baseball romance goes down swinging (weakly) | Content
| "Summer Catch" is a baseball movie. Local boy Ryan Dunne (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) has made the Chatham A's in the Cape Cod Summer League where he pitches for Coach John Schiffner (Brian Dennehy). This is Ryan's last chance, having ruined two earlier ones, but he has a fear of failure and has been affected by the recent death of his mother. But "Summer Catch" is also a romance movie, where Ryan is smitten by Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel). He sees her getting out of a pool while he is cutting her father's lawn and if you did not get the message that Biel is no longer playing Mary Camden on "7th Heaven," this moment will help persuade you. Of course, he is from the wrong side of the tracks as far as her father is concerned. Sound familiar yet?
It is interesting that Ryan has a major self-confidence problem because he has no problems running around in a thong belonging to Dede Mulligan (Brittany Murphy). But there have to be obstacles to his pitching success, just as there are obstacles to his romance with Tenley, and we will all pretend to be surprised when the two of them are tied up at the end in one of the most anticlimactic endings I have ever seen in a baseball movie (although I will admit the tag scene was a nice touch). It is just that we have seen this bit about the rich girl and the poor boy so many times, and the film does not take into account the boy wants to be a major league baseball player. I can just see Tenley's dad (Bruce Davison) being introduced to Alex Rodriguez and saying, "What does your father do, son?" (Answer: "Dad ran a shoe store in Manhattan and was a catch for a professional team in the Dominican Republic. How come you make so much less money than I do?").
If the romantic aspect is old hat, the baseball aspects of the film are not even up to minor league standards. Ryan wants to be intimidating as a pitcher, but his brother Mike (Jason Gedrick) suggests that being rich is better. Apparently we get to the final big game of the season and Coach Schiffner never suggested to his young pitcher that where you place the ball can be more important than how fast your throw it. Meanwhile, the team has a star pitcher Corey Pearson who has no concept of being a team player and nobody wants to set this boy straight either. The script by Kevin Falls ("Sports Night") and John Gatins ("Hardball"), based on a story by Falls, should be stronger on the sports aspects given their other writing projects, but that is not the case.
The big question is supposedly whether Dunne can keep it together for an entire ballgame. WHY? The percentage of major league pitchers who throw complete games each year has been dwindling steadily for decades. On top of that, Chatham supposedly has the best relief pitcher in the league (Ryan knows it even if his manager does not). So when he blows a game in the 9th early in the movie, anybody who knows anything about baseball has to be wondering why he is still in there. The baseball scenes are really hit or miss (e.g., if an outfielder picks up a ball at the fence and the running has rounded third, there is not going to be a close play at the plate). Just explain to me why Hank Aaron, who could probably be in any baseball movie being made, chose to be in this one (Okay, I know why: because director Michael Tollin did the 1995 documentary "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream"). But then why would they want a plot twist at the end that compels Curt Gowdy to say this is the damnedest thing he has ever seen in fifty years of broadcasting, because that is not necessarily a good thing.
The supporting cast is pretty good, with Matthew Lillard as catcher Billy Brubaker and Fred Ward as Ryan's father, along with Marc Blucas, Wilmer Valderrama, and Christian Kane as other players on the team. Every one in a while they toss some comedy moments in because they are required in a baseball movie, plus the writers did research on the mythology of the Cape Cod League, but they do not always seem to fit, such as the quest of Tenley's little sister, Katie (Zena Grey), to come up with the ideal mascot for the team (but at least that one has a cute payoff). Besides, the biggest sin in this film is wasting Beverly D'Angelo in an uncredited role as a cross between Annie from "Bull Durham" and Mrs. Robinson from "The Graduate," and that is saying something given that Dennehy is almost totally wasted in this film. There is also a nice cameo by Carlton Fisk that got cut that you can check out in the deleted scenes. So despite a likeable cast, "Summer Catch" ends up being a bush league film. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 08, 2005 | | Summary | Foul Ball | Content
| While I know I'm not exactly part of Summer Catch's target audience, after seeing the film, I doubt even if most of the movie-goers that the movie was made for would be entertained all that much by the generic story.
This summer couldn't be more crucial for Ryan Dunne (Freddie Prinze Jr.) , a blue-collar kid with aspirations to become a major league baseball player. Every summer, the hottest college ball players descend upon Cape Cod to pursue their baseball dreams during the day and blow off steam in town at night. The first local boy in years to earn a slot in the team, Ryan finally got his shot...but the temptations off-field are getting in the way of his commitment to the game. Even as his bartender brother Mike (Jason Gedrick) tries to keep him focused, Ryan is distracted by Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel) a beautiful young woman who summers in the town with her family. As the friction builds between his loyal townie friends and his cocky teammates, Ryan's rivalry with hotshot teammate Eric (Corey Pearson) comes to a head. When a major league scout comes along, however, he tries to push the pangs of romance and player rivalry aside, because his sports talent may be his only ticket out of the small industrial town.
The cast may be filled with the proper mix of "hot young talent" and seasoned character actors like Fred Ward, Brian Dennehy, and Bruce Davison, that is not enough. The script by Kevin Falls and John Gatins has one cliche after another. How many times do we need to see class warfare play out in a teen film? Or parents who disapprove of a romance? This film was made in the 80's starring Tom Cruise with fooball as its sport, substituted here as baseball. Brought to you by the producing team behind TV's Smallville and directed by Mike Tollin, the cast tries hard to escape the trappings but ultimately fails Biel, Prinze and scene stealers Matthew Lillard as Billy, and Brittany Murphy as Dede create some spark but as I say, not enough. If you are a fan of Baseball, hoping for a home run look elsewhere, the sport takes a back seat.
The DVD has feature-length commentary with Tollin, Gatins, and Biel that has its moments to be enjoyed but like the film--too few. The additional scenes wouldn't have improved the situation. Cast/crew filmographies top off the disc.
Summer Catch has a cast that deserves better material. Only for the most rabid fans of its stars.
|
| Rating | | | Date | July 19, 2004 | | Summary | An Embarrassment to baseball | Content
| I agree with the previous post, this movie is not about baseball and is for freddie fans only, not baseball fans. Go watch a good baseball movie like bull durham, it doesn't even compare |
| Rating | | | Date | June 09, 2004 | | Summary | SUCKED! | Content
| This shouldn't even be considered a baseball movie! That is like calling M. Night Shamalan's "Signs" a baseball movie because the one guy played baseball. Not worth it at all. |
|
Picture 01 (20)
