Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel, Brittany Murphy, Matthew Lillard
This is the WB version of a baseball movie. Everyone is young, toned, sexually active and agonizes over their future. Grown-ups show up only as authority figures or parents, speak their piece and then vamoose so that the college-age characters can return to figuring out their lives.
The two most conflicted are university dropout Ryan Dunne (Prinze), who mows lawns on Cape Cod but yearns to play pro baseball, and Tenley Parrish (Biel), a rich girl with the hots for him. Over a summer, Ryan tests himself on the field against star college players in the Cape Cod League and, off the field, tests the sincerity of Tenley's love. Clichés and sappy dialogue abound, and the acting by the leads is, to be generous, sincere. Catch's homages to Bull Durham (scenes with panties and a promiscuous older woman) only underscore its minor-league status. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Strikes out
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