Summer Catch - F

On DVD (2001). Rated PG-13, 108 minutes. Trailer.

A bout of insomnia led me to a movie I hated, but couldn't turn away from. Summer Catch tells the story of a pitcher/lawnmower (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) as he tries to make it on his hometown minor league team (he does!). Along the way he falls for a rich girl (Jessica Biel) whose dad doesn't want her to date a gardener but (spoiler alert!!) love overcomes and they end up together. Throw in Matthew Lillard as a horrifying re-tread of Tim Robbins' Wild Thing, Beverly D'Angelo's sad re-tread of Susan Sarandon and Brian Dennehey as the salty manager with a heart, and you have a movie that earns every bit of the F I gave it. The climactic scene (after a no-hitter by Prinze) at the airport is one of the funniest things I've watched this year.