Summer Catch (2001)

7% of critics liked it
(83 reviews)
43% of users liked it
(48,890 ratings)

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… More 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 blue-collar status earns him the enmity of a hot-shot college teammate, Eric Van Leemer (Corey Pearson). Although he's backed up by his best friend and team catcher Billy Brubaker (Matthew Lillard), Ryan adds more stress to his life by embarking on an affair with a beautiful, wealthy young Vassar graduate, Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel), who's spending the summer on the Cape with her parents. Tenley is facing her own crisis as her father (Bruce Davison) pressures her to move to San Francisco and work with her uncle, though she'd rather remain in the East and become an architect. Summer Catch is the third onscreen teaming of Prinze and Lillard, and also stars Brian Dennehy, Wilmer Valderrama, Jason Gedrick, Fred Ward, and Brittany Murphy. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 48 min.
Directed By: Michael Tollin
Written By: Kevin Falls, John Gatins
Genres: Drama, Romance, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 24, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Dec 4, 2001
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Critic Reviews

Joe Leydon, Variety
When it comes to funny business, Tollin's got game, and he makes the most of some talented supporting players on his bench.
Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
[An] awful light drama.
, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Don't catch it. Drop it.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Because 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.
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
Depending wholly upon the blinkered empathy of daydreamy teen viewers, a typical FPJ movie skims over character, plot, and dialogue.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Stars Freddie Prinze Jr. (strike one), features more male virgins trying to lose it (strike two) and disses the legendary baseball league in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, by filming this mess in North Carolina (strike three).
Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com
The film steps up a notch when the action is on the field. However, many directors before him have portrayed the beloved sport better.
Oz, eFilmCritic.com
A baseball movie with no baseball, no movie, and absolutely no love involved.
Emily Blunt, Blunt Review
If this is what the boys of summer are offering, I say bring on football season -- now!
Andrew Rodgers, Zap2it.com
Not that this is a particularly dispicable film, it just doesn't try to do anything new and delivers mostly wooden performances.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
Perhaps Freddie is simply a pawn in some sinister plan to destroy his career...
Joe Mader, Palo Alto Weekly
Call this one foul.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
Yawn.
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Freddie Prinze Jr. has become the opposite of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. His face on a movie poster guarantees a bad time.
Stephen Himes, Film Snobs
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.
Bruce Feld, Film Journal International
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.
JoBlo, JoBlo's Movie Emporium
Check it out if you're drunk and looking for a shoulder-shrugging time-waster...
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
Notable only for the spectacle of watching both Prinze and Biel getting out-performed in the same motion picture by Matthew Lillard.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
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.
Edward Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly
Inoffensive, but utterly generic, the baseball-related romantic comedy does little more than kill time.

Read all 20 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

John M

Cute film but not much really to it.
Lenny M

Freddy and Matthew Lillard two of the worst actors since the millennium. Brittany Murphy awful, Jessica Biel good lawd shawty, but movie is pretty bad. Terrible Boston accents only make this movie worse.
Dean M

Class consciousness sustains the primary drama in this well-intentioned little tale. Freddie Prinze Jr. plays a blue-collar kid from Cape Cod who joins a roster of college hopefuls in an effort to get signed by a professional baseball team. That portion of the story plays out… More
Class consciousness sustains the primary drama in this well-intentioned little tale. Freddie Prinze Jr. plays a blue-collar kid from Cape Cod who joins a roster of college hopefuls in an effort to get signed by a professional baseball team. That portion of the story plays out reasonably well; the hero's developing relationship with wealthy Vassar graduate Jessica Biel is less successful, because Biel can't act a lick. Everytime she utters a line, the film grinds to a dead stop. The script's smarmy sexuality also doesn't help; all concerned would have been better off concentrating on baseball and male bonding.
Rachel F

It was ok.
Deb S

Summer Catch is a really fun sports movie starring Freddie Prinze Jr., gorgeous Jessica Biel, Matthew Lillard as the comic relief....I find this guy hilarious and just too funny for words, Brittany Murphy, Marc Blucas and cameo by Beverly D'Angelo. Ryan (Freddie Prinze Jr.)… More
Summer Catch is a really fun sports movie starring Freddie Prinze Jr., gorgeous Jessica Biel, Matthew Lillard as the comic relief....I find this guy hilarious and just too funny for words, Brittany Murphy, Marc Blucas and cameo by Beverly D'Angelo. Ryan (Freddie Prinze Jr.) wants to be a pro baseball player but most of his family members think he's just going to screw the whole thing up. Then you have Tenley (Jessica Biel) as a little rich girl whose father is trying to run her life. Brian Dennehy plays the hard-boiled coach, but he's fun to watch. Summer catch is a true sleeper waiting to delight those who take the time to look for it at their local store.
Lee K

Aside from Jessica running around in this in underwear or bathing attire this movie totally sucked.
Erin C

Really bad movie. The only reason I was interested was because of Freddie. The baseball aspect was awful though.

Read all 7 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ryan Dunne

            Jessica Biel as Tenley Parrish

            Fred Ward as Sean Dunne

            Jason Gedrick as Mike Dunne

            Brittany Murphy as Dede Mulligan

            Gabriel Mann as Auggie

            Bruce Davison as Rand Parrish

            Matthew Lillard as Billy Brubaker

            Brian Dennehy as Coach John Schiffner

            Marc Blucas as Miles Dalrymple

            Wilmer Valderrama as Mickey Dominguez

            Corey Pearson as Eric Van Leemer

            Christian Kane as Dale Robin

            Cedric Pendleton as Calvin Knight

            Jed Rhein as Pete

            Zena Grey as Katie Parrish

            Curt Gowdy as Himself

            Pat Burrell as Himself

            Dave Collins as Himself

            Doug Glanville as Himself

            Grif Griffis as Himself

            Jeff Kellogg as Himself

            Mike Liberthal as Himself

            Mike Aaron as Himself

            Mike Lieberthal as Mike Lieberthal

            Dick Allen as Scout in Black Hat

            Randi Layne as Vivi Parrish

            Traci Dinwiddie as Lauren

            Susan Gardner as Marjorie

            Courtney Driver as Jenna

            Jack Baun as Chris Hunt

            Tammy Christine Arnold as Vassar Graduate

            Tim Lucason as Hyannis Batter

            Kenny Gasperson as Statistician

            Mark Robert Ellis as Umpire

            Herbert W. Gains as Angry Fan

            Thaddeus Hill as Coach Sully

            Brock Keene as Chatham Pitcher

            Mike Ribaudo as Chatham A #1

            Matt Hobbie as Chatham A #2

            John C. McGinley as Talent Scout
See full cast

Summer Catch (2001)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

John M

Lenny M

Dean M

Rachel F

Deb S

Lee K

Erin C

Cast

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