Summer Catch [DVD] [2001]

It is interesting that Ryan has a major self-confidence problem because he has no problems running around in a thong belonging to Dede Mulligan (Brittany Murphy). But there have to be obstacles to his pitching success, just as there are obstacles to his romance with Tenley, and we will all pretend to be surprised when the two of them are tied up at the end in one of the most anticlimactic endings I have ever seen in a baseball movie (although I will admit the tag scene was a nice touch). It is just that we have seen this bit about the rich girl and the poor boy so many times, and the film does not take into account the boy wants to be a major league baseball player. I can just see Tenley's dad (Bruce Davison) being introduced to Alex Rodriguez and saying, "What does your father do, son?" (Answer: "Dad ran a shoe store in Manhattan and was a catch for a professional team in the Dominican Republic. How come you make so much less money than I do?").

If the romantic aspect is old hat, the baseball aspects of the film are not even up to minor league standards. Ryan wants to be intimidating as a pitcher, but his brother Mike (Jason Gedrick) suggests that being rich is better. Apparently we get to the final big game of the season and Coach Schiffner never suggested to his young pitcher that where you place the ball can be more important than how fast your throw it. Meanwhile, the team has a star pitcher Corey Pearson who has no concept of being a team player and nobody wants to set this boy straight either. The script by Kevin Falls ("Sports Night") and John Gatins ("Hardball"), based on a story by Falls, should be stronger on the sports aspects given their other writing projects, but that is not the case.

The big question is supposedly whether Dunne can keep it together for an entire ballgame. WHY? The percentage of major league pitchers who throw complete games each year has been dwindling steadily for decades. On top of that, Chatham supposedly has the best relief pitcher in the league (Ryan knows it even if his manager does not). So when he blows a game in the 9th early in the movie, anybody who knows anything about baseball has to be wondering why he is still in there. The baseball scenes are really hit or miss (e.g., if an outfielder picks up a ball at the fence and the running has rounded third, there is not going to be a close play at the plate). Just explain to me why Hank Aaron, who could probably be in any baseball movie being made, chose to be in this one (Okay, I know why: because director Michael Tollin did the 1995 documentary "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream"). But then why would they want a plot twist at the end that compels Curt Gowdy to say this is the damnedest thing he has ever seen in fifty years of broadcasting, because that is not necessarily a good thing.

The supporting cast is pretty good, with Matthew Lillard as catcher Billy Brubaker and Fred Ward as Ryan's father, along with Marc Blucas, Wilmer Valderrama, and Christian Kane as other players on the team. Every one in a while they toss some comedy moments in because they are required in a baseball movie, plus the writers did research on the mythology of the Cape Cod League, but they do not always seem to fit, such as the quest of Tenley's little sister, Katie (Zena Grey), to come up with the ideal mascot for the team (but at least that one has a cute payoff). Besides, the biggest sin in this film is wasting Beverly D'Angelo in an uncredited role as a cross between Annie from "Bull Durham" and Mrs. Robinson from "The Graduate," and that is saying something given that Dennehy is almost totally wasted in this film. There is also a nice cameo by Carlton Fisk that got cut that you can check out in the deleted scenes. So despite a likeable cast, "Summer Catch" ends up being a bush league film (I hope the English are spared comparably bad movies combining cricket and romance).