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Summer Catch
Warner Bros.


7.0

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 10 votes
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FILM:

Radio

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, language and some drinking

Starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel, Matthew Lillard, Fred Ward, Jason Gedrick, Bruce Davison, Brian Dennehy, and Brittany Murphy

While pursuing his dream of becoming a major league baseball player, a working class boy (Prinze) falls for a wealthy girl (Biel) vacationing with her parents on Cape Cod.

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Kevin Falls (also story) John Gatins
DIRECTED BY:	Michael Tollin
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 4, 2001 Video: December 4, 2001 Theatrical: August 24, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Charlotte Observer Kevin Baxter

It's no surprise, and it's trite, but sometimes fun -- and not magic -- is more than enough.

Baltimore Sun Staff (Not credited)

A fuzzy, feel-good movie about baseball, babes and believing in yourself.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Fuzzy, feel-good movie about baseball, babes and believing in yourself.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Under Michael Tollin's direction, Prinze does well in what is surely the most complex character he has played on the screen.

Variety Joe Leydon

Haphazard mix of boisterously crude comedy, romantic entanglements, class-conscious clashes and intensely competitive hardball.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Freddie Prinze Jr. has a look in his eye that is equal parts self-infatuation and boyish flash of fear.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A lifelong baseball enthusiast, director and co-producer Mike Tollin -- persuaded many real-life baseball figures to make cameo appearances.

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

Whenever we're not at the ballpark, the film falls back on teenage relationship clichés. That's most of what's wrong with it, actually.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Too bad the movie didn't take its own advice and risk coming up with a fresh story.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The screenplay, with its relentlessly schematic characters saying relentlessly schematic things, is so moronic that it makes you long for a documentary on the real Cape League.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Neither drama nor comedy, Summer Catch is a long, slow lob of a movie that never crosses the plate.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

To help Prinze sail past the eventually unbearable clichés of Kevin Falls and John Gatins' script, director Mike Tollin has assembled an impressive supporting cast.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Prinze, Lillard, and Biel are all pleasant enough to look at, but the film's Romeo and Juliet tropes are shopworn by now, and the movie gives us nothing else.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Uninspired baseball romance.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Tries mightily to have the charm of "Bull Durham," but instead fields raunchy sex jokes, predictable story line, dumb dialogue and a lackluster love affair.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It's a movie that should have been called on account of boredom.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

A trite, bantamweight "Bull Durham," hasn't a single line, gibe, gesture or twist that hasn't already been chewed up and spat out in many a movie baseball dugout.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Awful light drama.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Summer Catch is the sludge at the bottom of the barrel.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Can only be enjoyed with a skullful of Old Bohemian and a faceful of high school crotch.

The New York Times Lawrence Van Gelder

A mound of standard-issue parent-child conflicts and enough self-help cliches to drive Polonius to the aquavit barrel at Elsinore.

New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein

Given how uninvolving Summer Catch is, the truly remarkable pitching here was not so much on the mound as in the executive office where someone convinced Warner Bros. to green-light this turkey, which should have been called Good Will Hitting.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Filming this mess in North Carolina (strike three).

Portland Oregonian Chris Hewitt

Apparently, you can lead a Prinze to a movie, but you can't make him act.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The equivalent of a full-course meal with no calories. It is a mirage of a movie, 100 minutes of nothing.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

HaChaCha 2 gave it a5:
I give it a 4 because of Biel's trunk. Whats the deal with the 5 rating you say? The extra one is reserved for the finger I gave the director during the closing credits for wasting money, the actors time, and ultimately a hour and a half of my life. The climax only lasted for 5 seconds then there was no point in watching the rest.

Aaron T. gave it a10:
I love this movie and how it is about baseball on the cap everyone should see this movie.

Dr. Steve gave it a 7:
I found this soldily entertaining. The characters were interesting and the baseball scenes--both on and off the field--were more realistic that what movies usually portray. The writing and acting made me care about the characters and their relationships. Plus, I have to say that Jessica Biel looks great in a bikini.

Marc W. gave it a 10:
A great mix of romance for the girls and sport for the guys.

Tiina K. gave it a 10:
A Very good movie!!! Absolutely worth 10!!!

Matt M. gave it a 0:
"Summer Catch" is garbage. But what did you really expect from a Freddie Prinze, Jr. movie? Plus it's a teen romance! That should've set off an alarm right away. Though not beating out "Freddy Got Fingered" for the worst film of the year, "Summer Catch" comes pretty darn close.

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Summer Catch Warner Bros.

Summer Catch
Warner Bros.