Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another look at FEVER PITCH, this one a tad more underwhelmed. Our ordinary neighborhood father that couldn't be a super at all spy that calls himself Bob Parr really did seem to like the movie, but thought it was a little too predictable, a by the numbers romantic comedy. I'm seeing the movie in a couple days, so I guess we'll see if I agree with Mr. Parr below, however I'm inclined to like Drew Barrymore romantic comedies because I've been in love with her since I was a wee lad. I realize many people disagree with my taste in the lovely Ms. Barrymore, but they can suck a fuck if they don't like her. Less competition as far as I'm concerned... ahem... Anyway, here is the totally un-Super regular guy Bob Parr with his thoughts!
Harry,
Long time listener, first time caller.
I know you ran some reviews of this on the site a couple of weeks ago; not sure if you are wanting any more a this time. I caught the national sneak of the Farrelly brothers' "Fever Pitch" last night and thought I would throw in my two cents.
Everyone knows the sports film has been a Hollywood staple for decades. Recently, it's been common for the studios to release a sports picture that coincides with the start of each individual season. We usually get a baseball-themed movie in the spring and a football movie in the fall. As a reader of this site for about 5 years, I have noticed that geeks often seem to dislike sports films, or maybe just sports in general.
What interests me is that baseball fans are really the geeks of the sports world. Baseball is a game that can be studied statistically like no other and the Bill Jameses of the world have taken a scientist's intellect and applied it to the national pastime. Baseball fans obsess over the smallest detail and keep stats on the most obscure aspects of the game. Read a talkback about Batman or Dr. Who on AICN and it will sound remarkably like a message board on a baseball site.
It is this obsession with the game that is the focal point of the spring 2005 baseball movie entry "Fever Pitch." As has been written here before, the film is based on the book by the great British author Nick Hornby. In his book, Hornby traces with great detail and humor his obsession with football (aka "soccer" to those of us in America). The book is, like most of Hornby's work, very funny but also very perceptive.
The new film (I'm assuming everyone knows that there has been a Colin Firth-starring British film version) transplants the story to the US and centers it around baseball. Purists will cry foul, but this is a logical place to transplant this story because of the obsessive nature of baseball fans.
Jimmie Fallon plays Ben, a 9th grade math teacher, who has inherited prime Fenway season tickets from him late grandfather. In an opening flashback that sets the scene pretty well, Ben has just moved to Boston with his mom. He is alone, and then his uncle takes him to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Ben is overwhelmed by the experience and the Sox become the main love in his life.
While taking his class on a field trip, Ben meets Lindsay, played by Drew Barrymore. Lindsay is a competitive workaholic trying to get a big promotion at her firm. She is at first not interested in Ben because he is "just a school teacher."
She finally agrees to a date and, since this a romantic comedy, the two hit it off. As their relationship grows, opening day looms and Ben feels he must tell Lindsay about his Red Sox obsession. As Lindsay's girlfriends have observed, there is a reason why Ben is still single and the Sox, it turns out, are the reason.
At first Lindsay thinks the baseball obsession will be good for their relationship. She can work late at the office while Ben attends games. This being a romantic comedy, complications must arise. Again, the Sox are the culprit.
Where "Fever Pitch" is at its weakest is in when in fights the conventions of being a romantic comedy. We know that Ben and Lindsay will have a falling out two thirds of the way through the film because Syd Field says it should happen. Their reconciliation isn't heartwarming because you know it's inevitable. And since it's inevitable, everyone in the audience who has seen a film before knows the break-up is merely a plot device. Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.
The beginning of the film lags, but it springs to life once Ben tells Lindsay about the Red Sox. There are a number of funny scenes that deal with the rituals of being a fan. The scene where Ben auctions his season tickets to his friends is very good. And a scene where a depressed Fallon sits and watched tape of the Bill Buckner World Series error over and over is especially funny.
I have never been a big fan of Jimmie Fallon's, but he is very affable here. He isn't doing what so many comedians attempt by trying to riff and improvise in the framework of a movie. He isn't doing sketch comedy here. The script (by veteran comedy writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) gives Fallon genuinely funny moments to play and he plays them well. I have never found Drew Barrymore to be devastatingly hot, but she is definitely charming. She and Fallon have a nice, easy chemistry together.
I would have liked for "Fever Pitch" to have gone deeper in its analysis of sports mania, but it's not that movie. It tends to sort of skim the surface. It reminded me of "Jerry Maguire" in that it is a romantic comedy set against the background of sports. It should have an appeal to both men and women.
I would also encourage geeks who might avoid a film that is a rom-com/sports movie hybrid. I think they will find many things in Ben to which they can relate. The Farrelly brothers directed, and you can hardly tell.
So that's my take, Harry. If you can use this, call me Bob Parr.
