Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie''s plot.
I was browsing Blockbuster for a movie, a few months back, that both my mother and I would enjoy and came across Fever Pitch. I’m not always fond of love stories and thought that the movie would be a little boring since it focused on baseball, but decided to give it a try based on the fact that Drew Barrymore was in it. She is one of my favorite actresses and hasn’t let me down too many times in the past.
Drew Barrymore… Lindsey
Jimmy Fallon… Ben
Jack Kehler… Al
KaDee Strickland… Robin
Ione Skye… Molly
Marissa Jaret Winoker… Sarah
Brett Murphy… Ryan
Evan Helmuth… Troy
Brandon Craggs… Casey
The storyline of this movie is actually very simple. Girl meets boy that happens to be absolutely obsessed with baseball and the Red Sox. Boy and girl start dating, baseball becomes a big part of her life and starts to interfere with her work. The relationship begins to crack, etc.
Ben was a little boy when his parents divorced and he moved to Boston. His Uncle Carl decides to take him to a baseball game at Fenway Park to get him out of the house. The boy becomes a Red Sox fan for life after that day and it totally consumes him. Jump to the present day, Ben is taking a bunch of his geometry students on a tour. Every year he picks someone in the math field to introduce his students to. It’s there that his students notice Lindsey (the boss) checking out their teacher. Later that day, Ben goes back to ask Lindsey out. She turns him down, but later changes her mind when her friends tell her that Ben doesn’t make enough money.
Ben goes to pick her up the next day and she is terribly sick. He thinks she is just trying to get out of the date, until he witnesses her throwing up. He puts her to bed and cleans up her bathroom. She gets up the next morning to find him sleeping on the couch with her dog. This begins their relationship. Every thing is fine and dandy until 3 weeks before opening day. She wants Ben to go with her on Easter break to meet her family. Ben explains that he has to go to Florida for spring training with his friends. It’s then that she finally learns why this handsome, kind, and smart guy is still single. He explains the situation with his uncle and him inheriting two season tickets behind the dugout when his uncle had died. She tries to understand…he invites her to opening day.
You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?… Ryan
Who do you think you are, Dr. Phil? Go on, get outta here!… Ben
The season starts and Lindsey tries hard to make it a part of her life because it is so important to Ben. But she is up for a promotion in the summer and the games begin to interfere with her work. So games come and go. Lindsey tries hard to get into them but her mind is elsewhere half the time.
Can their relationship continue to work? Or will Lindsey’s work and Ben’s passion for the Red Sox overcome everything else they have together? Will she get tired of his obsession?
I was surprised that I wasn’t really bored with this movie despite there being a lot about baseball in it. My mother enjoyed it also, she thought that there were a lot of funny parts. Yes, there is a lot of baseball, but there is always something going on so it doesn’t slow down too much. I liked the fact that they kind pushed the fast forward button to make it through most of the season. If they would have gone through the season at regular speed, the movie would have become to long and too boring.
As mentioned previously, I am a fan of Barrymore’s and very rarely can she do wrong in my eyes. She seems to play a lot characters where she can use her natural charm and just look cute. She’s not your typical movie star in that she is skinny and beautiful. She’s an average looking girl with an average looking figure, which makes her seem more real and less made up for the movie. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed Jimmy Fallon’s portrayal of the obsessive Ben in this movie. I’m not a fan of Saturday Night Live because I think the show is just way to silly. So I never would have watched this movie just because Fallon is in it. But he was able to portray Ben’s obsessiveness very well and also show the sensitive side to the subject as well. The young Ben used baseball as an escape from his life, and I think that the older Ben never realized that until later in life. He was still a kid even in his older age and it there was a silly side that Fallon, of course, had no problem portraying.
The movie pretty much focuses on these two main characters. Their friends are brought in every once in awhile to break of the story and just add a little background gossip and fun. I think all of the supporting characters were pretty much good actors and made do with what little screen time that they had. There are also a few cameos from the Red Sox players.
I was very relieved that the movie focused more on the relationship between the two main characters and used baseball as a way to interfere instead of putting the focus totally on baseball. There are a few other minor issues that are also brought out in this movie that seem to add a little more to the story so that it doesn’t focus on the baseball side. There is the whole drama about Lindsey’s motivations at work, a little pregnancy scare, a trip to Paris, and also a little about how the friends and family feel about the new boyfriend’s obsessiveness. There is a whole other side of this movie that I just didn’t expect.
You don't see us tangled up in the sheets with the Eiffel Tower in the background. You see the Mariners are coming in, and Pedro's pitching Friday.… Lindsey
No, on Saturday. Schilling's Friday.… Ben
I liked the fact that Barrymore is a career driven woman, it sort of detracts from the stereotype that women belong in the home, but I do have to say that it is becoming more of a common factor in movies lately. Fever Pitch is all about the compromise. Both need to realize that they can’t both just want what they want and not compromise with each other or the relationship will not work. Can they do it?
Fever Pitch has a bunch of special features, including commentary by the Farrelly’s, deleted scenes, a gag reel, “Love Triangle” internet featurette, “Break the Curse” internet featurette, making a scene “fever pitch”, and a theatrical trailer. There is an inside look at what was an upcoming project when this DVD was released about the movie In Her Shoes and also several previews (Hide & Seek, Sideways, and Taxi). There is also a scene selection menu, language selection (English 5.1 Dolby surround, French Dolby, and Spanish Dolby), and a subtitles selection (English and Spanish).
Overall, Fever Pitch was a fun movie with just a few minor scenes that were a little slow. Barrymore and Fallon were perfectly cast and had a little chemistry that allowed them to pull of the relationship. However, the movie was very simple and you definitely do not need to be a rocket scientist to realize what is going to happen next, or even at the end for that matter. The movie has a pretty steady pace and doesn't include any kind of action, so it may not be for some viewers. This is a DVD that will be added to my collection and one that I recommend watching at least once or twice, but not one that deserved any academy awards. Fever Pitch is an ordinary romantic movie, but that doesn’t make it boring.
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