Life Throws Curves in Uneven ‘Catch’

Along with vacationers, Cape Cod in summertime draws college baseball all-stars who have won a coveted spot on the more-than-a-century-old Cape Cod League--and that in turn attracts pro scouts. In the overly complicated and often heavy-handed “Summer Catch,” Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Ryan Dunne has more pressure on him than others who have made the league.

First of all, he’s the first local boy to make it within memory. Second, he’s been given a break because he had been initially disqualified after he was thrown off his junior college team for fighting. Third, he and his family have been hard hit by the recent death of his mother. Understandably, Ryan, a pitcher, sees this as his last chance to break into the pros.

As it turns out, that’s just for openers from writers Kevin Falls and John Gatins. Already experiencing some tension with old friends envious that he’s moving into a new world of opportunity, Ryan intensifies his situation by becoming involved with the sleek and stunning Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel), the daughter of a rich local aristocrat (Bruce Davison) who, to put it mildly, is not thrilled with the budding romance when the suitor is none other than the son of his gardener (Fred Ward). Indeed, for six years, Ryan has been mowing the impressive lawns of the baronial Parrish estate.

Under Michael Tollin’s direction, Prinze does well in what is surely the most complex character he has played on the screen. Ryan and Tenley, who is resisting her father’s choice of a husband and career (join her uncle’s San Francisco investment firm rather than study to be an architect), are credible in their understandably edgy affair. The interplay of Ryan’s professional and romantic challenges rings true, but unfortunately the writers pile on contrivances and needless distractions that seriously diminish the film’s overall effect.

Class distinctions and frictions may well linger on in tradition-steeped New England, but surely they’re not so acute as they were back when Olive Higgins Prouty wrote “Stella Dallas.” Here, Davison, fine actor that is he, is asked to play a ruthless snob right out of a Victorian melodrama. Socially exalted Yankees have just got to have more subtle and effective ways of discouraging unsuitable suitors than the sure-to-backfire heavy-handed tactics employed by Davison’s Rand Parrish. The emphasis on clashing classes threatens to overwhelm Ryan’s struggle to get his big break on the diamond, as does the large dose of rowdy sex-and-booze antics indulged in by townies and baseball players alike--which are largely extraneous to Ryan’s story.

Amid a thicket of needlessly distracting elements and characters, the always-welcome presence of the witty Matthew Lillard is a real plus as Ryan’s best pal on the team, a talented slugger from USC, as are Brian Dennehy as Ryan’s demanding but understanding coach and Ward and Jason Gedrick as, respectively, Ryan’s quietly macho but sensitive father and older brother. An unbilled John McGinley lends credibility as a key pro scout, while Beverly D’Angelo, also unbilled, is stuck with a cameo that seems an homage to Susan Sarandon in “Bull Durham.”

*

MPAA-rated: PG-13, for sexual content, language and some drinking. Times guidelines: The film’s considerable sexual innuendo is unsuitable for youngsters.

‘Summer Catch’

Freddie Prinze Jr.: Ryan Dunne

Jessica Biel: Tenley Parrish

Matthew Lillard: Billy Brubaker

Brian Dennehy: John Schiffner

A Warner Bros. Pictures presentation of a Tollin/Robbins production. Director Michael Tollin. Producers Tollin and Brian Robbins, Sam Weisman. Executive producer Herb Gains. Screenplay by Kevin Falls and John Gatins; from a story by Falls. Cinematographer Tim Suhrstedt. Editor Harvey Rosenstock. Music George Fenton. Costumes Juliet Polsca. Production designer John D. Kretschmer. Set decorator Steve Davis. Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes.

In general release.