Okay, so that's not entirely true -- Warner Brothers is also using star Freddie Prinze Jr.'s oh-so-dewy good looks to sell the film, although compared to other roles he's "inhabited" in the past, his dubious charm isn't so misplaced here. Where in previous romantic comedies, he seemed almost daunted by his own ego, the showy athleticism and sexuality of Summer Catch helps to drown him out -- he's not the only one strutting his stuff for the cameras. Like Bruce Willis, the key to success for Prinze Jr. may be finding projects which are more melodramatic than he is.

      Among those also baring (nearly) all for the camera are Jessica Biel and Matthew Lillard, whose acting skills are on par with Prinze Jr.'s and who make no substantial contribution to the film other than gorgeous love interest and goofball sidekick, respectively. In this case, Biel (TV's "Seventh Heaven") plays Tenley Parrish, a rich Bostonian whose similarly rich family spends their summers in Cape Cod -- and this summer, she'll serve as the chief distraction for aspiring pro baseball player Ryan Dunne (Prinze Jr.). Dunne is a talented pitcher whose only problem is that of most movie baseball players: overcoming himself. With the aid of his fun-loving catcher and teammate, Billy Brubaker (Lillard, She's All That), he hopes to do just that, impress the dozens of pro scouts flocking to the Cape for the summer, and earn a minor league contract as his next step to the show.

      The various obstacles thrown at Dunne and the variety of subplots not-too-subtly woven into the larger picture are almost uniformly cliched. First, there's the fact that our hero doubts himself too much to tap his inner talent, which is as old as the baseball movie itself; second, there's the distracting love interest and the complications she presents -- again, no surprises there; and third, there's the unexplained sense of urgency, that this is Dunne's last shot to make it with some pro team and if he doesn't do so, he'll end up mowing lawns on the Cape for the rest of his life. All of these are presented throughout the movie's 100-minute running time, but none are truly developed to the point where they come believable; rather, the audience simply accepts them because they're staples of the baseball movie.

      Furthermore, Summer Catch doesn't really have anything to say about any of that. Written by Kevin Falls and John Gatins, the story sets up the romance between Tenley and Dunne, and also the fact that Tenley's father disapproves of the blue-collar Dunne (another generic romance movie item), but it never wants to handle that obstacle. It's simply there, and it's never even resolved by the film's ending. The same goes for the other familiar elements of the story, which are all presented but never treated. Summer Catch is like a grocery list of all of the usual parts of a baseball movie; a more successful movie could be likened to an actual recipe wherein the director might actually do something with his ingredients.

      Thankfully there is some baseball to be seen, which, as far as sports movies go, is never an unfortunate thing. Although the game lacks some punch because the script never provides any answers to Dunne's schizophrenic talent, it nevertheless breathes life into an otherwise stale movie. Matthew Lillard steals the show as Billy Brubaker, Dunne's partner in crime and team jokester -- the comedic catcher may be another tradition as old as baseball itself, but it's an act that rarely grows old, especially with a veteran comedic sidekick like Lillard in the part. He's a wee bit underused, but by the time you realize that, you'll long ago have realized that perfection is not a word associated with Summer Catch.

      Freddie Prinze Jr. himself is adequately convincing as a young, talented southpaw, although he's only similarly adequate as the slightly shy, inevitably charming leading man. As it's a role he's become recently responsible for excelling at -- it's all he does these days -- he ought to be more proficient in the part, but he doesn't bring much to the table. He and Jessica Biel can't get anything together, other than a few mildly steamy makeout sessions -- although Biel, beautiful though she may be, doesn't really give Prinze Jr. anything to act against.

      For the most part, everything about Summer Catch is entirely predictable, and those rare moments when it isn't are completely inconsequential (the movie's ending, in particular, is an example of that). The film doesn't so much expand upon the baseball subgenre as it does borrow from it -- parts of most baseball movies of the last twenty years are clear at some point or another. But Freddie Prinze Jr. has become synonymous with unremarkable as a result of his last several outings, and Summer Catch is no different. It's a movie on autopilot, which, though it won't please baseball fans, might actually do the trick for Prinze Jr. followers.

Craig Roush, 2001