SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Local boy Ryan Dunne (Freddie Prinze Jr.) has been mowing lawns and baseball fields for his father Sean (Fred Ward). It's an important time for summer Cape Cod Baseball League as college kids like Billy Brubaker (Matthew Lillard), Miles Dalrymple (Marc Blucas), and Mickey Dominguez (Wilmer Valderrama) come to show their skills to major league teams. It's the first summer that Ryan is going to play despite any distractions from Dede Mulligan (Brittany Murphy). However he has a tendency to self destruct after the death of his mother. John Schiffner (Brian Dennehy) is the coach. One of Ryan's job is for the rich Parrishes with daughter Tenley (Jessica Biel). His big brother Mike (Jason Gedrick) missed his chance and is now the local bartender.It's suppose to be funny but it's just stupid. Everything is a joke to these characters. If they don't take it seriously, then why should the audience. Freddie Prinze Jr. is annoyingly brash. In the first ten minutes, he shows himself to be a whiny idiot. With his big chance on the line, he's got one girl and then chases another. Jessica Biel doesn't have much heat or any chemistry. She's got a beautiful body and that's the only thing on display here. She has one of the cheesiest lines. They get together right away losing any courtship heat. Brittany Murphy has more energy and it would have been interesting for her in the lead. I know it's a rom-com. The problem is that the rom is a bore and the com is pathetic. The jokes are basically hot guys strutting around in a thong. There is also a bad baseball faux-pas when coach Schiffner commented that he's pitching a no hitter. It's just one more thing that annoyed me.

This isn't the worst movie ever but it has nothing going for it. It is weak as a baseball film and it is weak as a boy meets girl chick flick. The characters are stock, the acting is uninspired, the plot is predictable, and there is just nothing about this film that draws the viewer in. It passes the time. It fills a void. Others have probably said it better than I have above, though.I just want to point out that as any baseball fan worth his weight in pine tar knows any young man who throws left-handed and can reach 96mph on the gun is going to get repeated opportunities in professional baseball. Even an organization with the most pessimistic view of his prospects would wonder if they could turn him into a LOOGY.It's a small issue but the movie is full of things that make it crappy. This silly detail about his ability to throw hard is just the cherry on top of the sundae for me as a baseball fan.

Even if this had been a better story I probably would not have enjoyed it very much because of Freddie Prinze Jr. in the title role. He is Ryan Dunne, a talented college baseball pitcher in a Massachusetts summer league. If he makes a good showing then he will get a good pro offer. But Ryan is so annoying all the way through the movie as it drew to a close I found myself wishing he had been an old world gladiator and now he was being thrown to the lions for their dinner. I don't know if it was because of Prinze's acting style, or what the director wanted. No matter, he was very annoying. Jessica Biel is pretty and rich Tenley Parrish, just graduated from college and her father wants her top go to the west coast to work with a family friend. But of course she falls for Ryan and he falls for her, so that complicates matters. Especially when her dad finds out, because Ryan and his father are the local lawn guys, and he wants better for his daughter.Fred Ward is good as always as Ryan's dad, Sean Dunne. Brittany Murphy is Dede Mulligan, local ditsy girl who always wants to have a good time and loves the guys. It is refreshing to see her healthy and in good form, quite different from the Brittany Murphy we saw in her last film made right before her tragic death.A good movie to see Brittany Murphy, otherwise not too much there to enjoy.

Enjoyable. Yes.Predictable. Yes.Nothing much here but a nice little movie about baseball. Yet another film that looks and sounds like it was supposed to be a made for TV movie. The movie's saving grace is "eye candy" Freddie who looks great in - and out - of uniform. Make this film a drinking game: down a shot every time the writers find another way to get Freddie naked, shirtless or running around in his underwear.Lots of minor characters with uninteresting story lines. The trailer makes this film seem like another teen sex romp but it really is more focused on baseball.