Customer Reviews

Summer Catch

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Despite the other reviews, this was a nice change from all the other movies out there. Just basic and enjoyable! Refreshing after a long day. Simple and sweet. Really enjoyed it!

...In the theatres, that is. But I'm not sure if anyone even knew this movie existed because the commercials just featured quick clips with barely any real dialogue. When the movie went to cable, there were most likely two types of people who watched it: teenage girls, because the movie featured heart-throbs (they're all there: Freddie Prinze, Jr., Christian Kane, Matthew Lillard); and ANY-age guys, because the commercial showed Jessica Biel in a bikini (by the way, that scene's not even in the movie).

Basically the movie is about a rich girl named Tenley Parrish (Biel) who ends up falling in love with a "poor" boy named Ryan Dunne (Prinze), who has ambitions to become a professional baseball pitcher. His life seems to be jaded due to his dull older brother Mike (Jason Gedrick), his father (Fred Ward), who seems to be pleased with failure, and the memories of his dead mother, who apparently was the only other person in the family that was normal. Tenley is afraid to tell her father about going after a boy who isn't rich, and that makes Ryan feel rather insecure and cheated.

The storyline isn't all that bad, but there were some things that needed heavy-duty work. Several of the characters seemed just plain useless. Ryan's sometimes-crazy best friend Billy Brubaker (Matthew Lillard) is featured in several scenes that don't seem to have a point, and it feels like the scenes are there only because Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Matthew Lillard are real-life best friends, and there are few movies they don't do together nowadays. Also, the scenes with Mickey Dominguez (Wilmer Valderrama) seem like they're there just to get him in the movie. His scenes basically revolve around him being a virgin and getting close to actually losing his virginity but chickening out (doesn't that remind you of another, more POPULAR character Valderrama plays?), and it is a very big diversion from the focus of the movie, if you can even tell what that is any more. If you actually see a scene with Prinze or Biel in it, it'll be about ten to fifteen minutes before you see another one.

Another problem is something that Freddie Prinze, Jr. does in many of his movies. Just when you start to wonder why the movie is rated PG-13, Prinze starts yelling the F word. The problem with that is that he doesn't make it sound believable. Instead, it sounds more like a sixth-grader who says it just to get attention.

This movie would have been better if the plot was more focused. Also, someone should tell the director (and the writer) that the supporting cast should be there because they're actually supporting the main cast and not just because they want paychecks.

This movie is the poor man's Bull Durham. It stars Freddie Prinze Jr as Ryan Dunne, who wants to become a professional baseball player. Then he meets Jessica Biel, a rich girl whose father is against her seeing Dunne. Matthew Lillard, Marc Blucas, Brittany Murphy and Brian Dennehy round out the cast.
Prinze NEEDS to take his career in a different direction. All his roles are the same guy-funny,cute, always gets the girl. It's maddening to me because he was in a movie called Money Kings playing a villian. He wasn't bad either. He needs to take more risks and playing a variety of roles.

Where do I start. Let me first try to figure out what this movie was even about. I hated this movie. The acting was horrible, the story was predictible and it was not funny at all. I was looking more forward to it returning it to the movie store then to find out how things would work out in the end. Who told Jessica Biel (or whatever her name is) that she could act? Maybe I'm wrong about her. This is the first movie I've seen her in. But I'm not so sure I would give her a second chance. Most of the actors were annoying and not funny at all. Not even the one-liners!Baseball fans don't count on this to be a good movie. It's not. Don't waste your time.So don't count on this to be a humorous movie.I will not see this movie again. I'd rather watch "Roots" straight through then this horrible movie again.

This movie is not good by any stretch of the imagination. Some of the lines, including, "You mow her lawn and you want to mow her lawn?" and "If I cut my left arm off do you think they'd let me be in the Special Olympics" are just terrible. The baseball action is far from realistic, with players diving over fences to save homeruns, and two guys on the same team batting in the low .400's in July.

What this movie does do well is bring exposure to the famed Cape Cod Baseball League, a veritable breeding ground for big leaguers including Frank Thomas, Barry Zito, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Nomar, and many more. Now every game is not the drunken fiesta as portrayed in the movie, but a more subdued atmosphere with knowledgeable baseball fans and the nation's best players. Many of the dilemmas facing the players in the movie are real life issues facing America's up and coming crop of minor leaguers.

Regardless you should "Catch" this movie at some point, if simply to educate yourself on the league (and the authentic uniforms used in the movie). Even better yet, come watch a Cape League came. Before you come though please learn to drive first, especially around rotaries, because that is a very blatant issue facing Chatham's tourists.

Sorry, but what a lost opportunity by this director, who spent almost $20 Million, and we didn't get to see a real baseball movie. I think the director was a minor league quality ballplayer and even produced a great documentary a few years ago about Hank Aaron (I think it was Aaron). Summer Catch got way lost in the teen-movie-thing. Jeez, for $20 Million, he could have fictionalized a Jackie Robinson type-story on how the Negro Leagues' destiny was to take over our hearts. Could you imagine the baseball scenes. It was "Magic Johnson Show-Time" way ahead of its time. Now, that's something we've never seen dramatized. Spike Lee still hasn't made the real Jackie Robinson story for the screen yet. For a baseball lover to do this Summer Catch thing is a Waste. Did we really want to see good baseball scenes get messed up with a star running around in a thong? NO!

I am a teenage boy who thinks that Jessica Biel is hot. Also see this movie to see Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard shirtless and in thongs. They are so hot. Matthew is packin' something really big...

A decent cast in the supporting roles, which is necessary to overcome the lousy script and general nausea from a Freddie Prinze Jr. movie. Mathew Lillard's performance earned this movie half of the whole 1 star I gave it. Nevermind the idea that a 6'6" 160-pound catcher is ridiculous, I still think he's funny. The other half was simply because this is a baseball movie set in the New England area.

Overall this is the typical Freddie Prinze Jr movie. What I like to call a "teenie-bopper" movie aimed at young adults with an attention span of about 15 seconds.

This is possibly the leading candidate for worst movie of this decade. For a real minor league baseball movie buy Bull Durham!

Contrary to some of the reviewers, this movie is not all bad and is not for baseball lovers only. I don't care for sports at all, but didn't mind seeing baseball as a backdrop. It was nice to see Jessica in a more 'adult' role and Freddie Prinz, Jr. is not one of my favorite stars on a good day, but you can relate to his inner struggle of known vs. unknown life choices. The scene where his two long-time friends put him in his place is a real tear jerker and worth the time to watch the movie. Glimpses of Mark Blucas (Riley, BVS) and Christian Kane (Lindsey, "Angel") were also treats. I don't know that I personally would pay for a copy, but check it out on tv and decide for yourself. It's worth a peek! A nice stress reliever after a hard day.