Summer Catch ** (2001, Freddie Prinze Jr, Jessica Biel, Matthew Lillard, Fred Ward) – Classic Movie Review 1756

Director Michael Tollin’s moderate 2001 sports-comedy-drama-romance is a typical Freddie Prinze Jr movie, in which he smiles a lot and looks sad a lot as Ryan Dunne, a working-class kid with major baseball league aspirations.

Every summer, the hottest college players descend upon Cape Cod to pursue their big- league dreams by day and to party by night with the local girls. This year, hot pitcher Ryan and his best buddy Brubaker (Matthew Lillard) come under the scrutiny of the crusty coach (Brian Dennehy), while Ryan embarks on a fling with rich girl (Jessica Biel), whose dad (Bruce Davison) isn’t at all amused, prompting him to warn off the kid and threaten the livelihood of his gardener father (Fred Ward).

This corny movie is pleasant enough, and the performances are sincere, but there are a lot of clichés to surmount before the final credits. Lillard is effortlessly funny, but doesn’t have enough to do; Ward is especially good as dad. Written by Kevin Falls, it’s the kind of movie that signals its happy ending in the first frame, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Brittany Murphy, Jason Gedrick, Marc Blucas, Beverly D’Angelo and John C McGinley are also in the strong cast.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1756

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