summer catch ( 2001 ) 1 1/2 stars out of 4 . starring freddie prinze jr . , jessical biel , matthew lillard , fred ward , jason gedrick , brittany murphy , bruce davison and brian dennehy . screenplay by kevin falls and john gatins . story by falls . directed by mike tollin . rated pg-13 . approx . 110 minutes . summer catch is a minor league effort , nine innings of banality with a lineup of stock situations and stereotypical characters . this feature is like a double header , two sets of clichés for the price of one . not only do we get the usual tired sports chestnuts , but the banal rich girl-poor boy love story is tossed in for good measure . an original moment in this loser is as rare as a chicago cubs world series appearance . the screenplay by kevin falls and john gatins , based on a story by falls , merely lobs its plotline at the audience . this is a story that needed sent down for seasoning and more coaching . summer catch centers around ryan dunne ( freddie prinze jr . ) , a cape cod youth chosen to participate in the prestigious cape cod baseball league , supposedly a showcase for the best young amateur and college players in the country . ryan is a blue-collar kind of guy . he works with his dad taking care of the lawns of cape cod's rich and famous . he also , as we are informed early , his own worst enemy . he has the potential and the talent , but always seems to self-destruct at the crucial moment . so , ryan tries to remained focused on baseball . then he meets tenley parrish ( jessica biel ) , daughter of one of the blue bloods whose lawn he manicures . tenley , a name only a hack screenwriter could invent , is unlike her snobbish counterparts and falls for ryan . if you can't figure out where all this nonsense leads , then you need a remedial course in film viewing . as always prinze is pretty to look at , but his performance mainly consists of facial expressions : puppy dog love , heartbreak , frustration , self-loathing or determination . biel cries a lot , while bruce davison merely acts smarmy as her class-conscious father . the only beacon is matthew lillard's fun-loving billy brubaker , the team's catcher . summer catch borrows situations and stylings from other baseball movies , such as bull durham and the natural . no curve balls here , no sliders . every pitch is predictable . a blind umpire could call this movie . summer catch is strictly rookie league moviemaking . it has as much chance of making the movie hall of fame as the dodgers have of moving back to brooklyn . bob bloom is the film critic at the journal and courier in lafayette , in . he can be reached by e-mail at <a href= " mailto : bloom@journal-courier . com " >bloom@journal-courier . com</a> or at <a href= " mailto : bobbloom@iquest . net . " >bobbloom@iquest . net . </a> other reviews by bloom can be found at www . jconline . com by clicking on golafayette . bloom's reviews also can be found on the web at the internet movie database : <a href= " http : //www . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? bob + bloom " >http : //www . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? bob + bloom</a> 
