Stars: Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel, Matthew Lillard, Brian Dennehy, Fred Ward, Jason Gedrick, Bruce Davison, Brittany Murphy, Gabriel Mann, Marc Blucas

Director: Michael Tollin

Summary: Ryan is a local boy who aims to become a major league baseball player. When a beautiful rich girl, who is in town for the summer, meets up with Ryan a romance soon develops and the problems begin...

Ryan Dunne (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) pitches a mean fastball, which is why he's been chosen for the elite Cape Cod Baseball League. A college dropout, he dates a promiscuous local girl and works long hours for his hard-drinking father's landscaping business, tending the lawns of the rich "summer people." One of these lawns belongs to sleek, sexy uptown girl Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel). Sparks fly between the two, and without a second thought, Ryan trades in his trashy girlfriend for the Ivy League Tenley. Needless to say, her snobby, aristocratic father is horrified that his daughter is dating the lawn boy, and does everything he can to break up their romance.
The star-crossed lovers also face other challenges. Ryan dreams of becoming a major league player, and this summer he might get his big break because the Cape Cod League attracts pro baseball recruiters from around the country. But Ryan too often chokes up on the pitcher's mound--his mother's death and his father's drinking have left him with some pretty heavy baggage to carry. The sensitive and smart Tenley helps her handsome guy overcome his fears, on and off the field. As she tells Ryan, "If you want big rewards, you gotta take big risks."

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Summer Catchcombines sports movie with teen romance across class boundaries and sticks in some less than effective bawdy comedy to make up the weight. Playing in a local summer baseball league is the last chance at a professional sports career Ryan (Freddie Prinz Jr) has after he gave up an earlier chance in order to attend his mother's funeral. The threats to his success include the rivalry of other young players, the temptation to just have fun offered by teammate Brubaker (Matthew Lillard) and his growing feelings for Tenley (Jessica Biel). Ryan also has his own demon--an obsession with failure.

Occasional outcroppings of psychobabble and melodrama stop this ever finding a satisfactory tone of its own--the scenes on the baseball diamond are often the most interesting. The scenes of sexual comedy largely waste such interesting young actors as Marc Blucas, Christian Kane and Brittany Murphy, all of whom do what they can with unprepossessing material. This is a film for Freddie Prinz Jr fans more than anyone else.

On the DVD:Summer Catchon DVD offers a collection of deleted scenes that indicate just how much more uncertain the film's tone was before editing; the commentary by actors Prinz and Biel and director Mike Tollin shows that they at least all had a fairly good time making it. The visual aspect ratio is widescreen anamorphic 1.85:1 and the DVD has Dolby 5:1 digital sound. --Roz Kaveney

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary With Freddie Prinze Junior And Jessica Biel And Mike Tollin, Deleted Scenes
Year:	2001
Release Date:	May 19, 2003
Runtime:	99 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 021100
Keywords:	Catch, Summer, General, Wide, Screen, Romantic, Drama
Genre:	Drama