Fever Pitch is kind of an iffy venture. Whilst it clings to the tried-and-true formula of the all-American romantic comedy, it swings from almost brilliant to macabre and back again like an unforgiving carnival ride.
The Farrelly Brothers have turned over the occasional Ace such as There's Something About Mary and a few face cards like Shallow Hal. Fever Pitch is in the vicinity of 6 to 9, the kind of card you don't want to see in a game of Hi-Lo 'cause you just never know what to expect. If I had the chance to tell my past self whether or not to see this movie, I don't even know what I'd tell him. Which probably means it's not THAT great.
Speaking as someone who doesn't fart sideways to a dime about baseball, I am somewhat relieved that the movie focused more on the relationship between Ben (Jimmy Fallon) and Lindsey (Drew Barrymore) than on the miraculous Red Sox comeback of '04. I'm guessing this would also be a relief to Yankee fans as well.
While most rom-coms that I've seen save one big argument for last, Fever Pitch kind of spreads it out into a series of gradually more intense disagreements. At some point near the end, a possible pregnancy comes into the picture, which is at least some cause for emotional investment and whose outcome is a little food for thought.
Unfortunately, up until that point, I didn't care much at all whether or not they hooked up. I don't see how a guy walks right into a girl's apartment without her permission while she's throwing up and then gets away with it just because he took the initiative to undress her himself, put her to bed and clean up the mess. I can't even leave a friendly letter and sign it "Hugs" without being treated like a stalker, how does he get away with that?
Jimmy Fallon tries a subtler approach than he has in the past, although one would think a role like this would call for just his kind of psychosis. Okay, he punches a wall once, but his range has gotten better. His wit might annoy some, but it's far from terrible. The trailer makes his proposal look like an annoyance, but since it happens fairly early on, it comes across as more of a "gotcha".
Drew Barrymore pretty much plays herself, but you know what I noticed? It seems like half the romantic comedies these days have the female lead working in some kind of office setting, going around all dressed up all the time. I mean I admit, I have as much of that fetish as anybody, but they're starting to all look the same.
In spite of my low expectations, much of the script struck me as profound when Ben and Lindsey discussed the relationship with their friends. Fallon had a great speech about guys, sports, and the connection. I didn't expect him to actually make a sports hermit like myself understand the obsession, but at times I was convinced.
The sports footage is taken directly from the actual games, and part of the film was filmed right at one of the games. No particular attention is given to the nuances of any single game, like you know how most movies take it all the way down to the bottom of the 9th, two outs, three balls, three strikes, bases loaded and half a million dollars on one pitch. You barely see stats at all, it's just like "Hey, they won!" or "Damn, they lost." After the Red Sox win Game 4, the remaining three wins are wrapped up in a minute or so of narration at the end. Which is just fine, cos even I knew that was gonna happen.
Okay, it's not When Harry Met Sally. It's not even 50 First Dates, for that matter. But there are plenty of twists and turns (or mostly a zigzag, actually) to keep it interesting.
No home run here, but sometimes a base hit is just as gratifying.
According to Red Sox super-fan Ben Wrightman (Jimmy Fallon), finding romance is about as likely as his beloved team winning the World Series. But when...More at HotMovieSale.com
According to Red Sox super-fan Ben Wrightman (Jimmy Fallon), finding romance is about as likely as his beloved team winning the World Series. But when...More at Buy.com
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