Who’s on Worst: Summer Catch

Summer Catch is a perfect little late-90s/early-00s time capsule, with the music (we hear you in that bar scene, Dandy Warhols), the fashion (those eyebrows), and the use of charisma-free lead actors like Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jessica Biel.

As you might expect, given the theme of Who’s on Worst, this movie is bad. It’s bad mainly in all the ways it tries to shoehorn a romcom into what might have been the precursor to Richard Linklater’s wonderful Everybody Wants Some!!

The movie sees young former college pitcher, Ryan Dunne (Prinze Jr.) eager to prove himself one last time in the Cape Cod League, alongside a bawdy cast of era staples like Matthew Lillard, Mark Blucas, and Wilmer Valderrama. Ryan quickly gets distracted by the daughter of a wealthy client of his father’s lawn care business. The awkwardly named Tenley Parrish (Biel) obviously steals Ryan’s heart, but we’re still not entirely sure why.

Hijinks and heartbreak ensue, and Darby, Brett, and I dig into what was moderately successful, and what failed to make it to the big leagues.