Fever Pitch Movie Review:


If you think you’ve met the perfect guy or gal, you just don’t know that person very well. “Fever Pitch,” an insightful romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, illustrates this inevitable fact of life with humor and heart. Happily, a sweet chemistry emerges between these two watchable actors, making this movie (directed by the Farrelly brothers and based on Nick Hornby’s novel of the same name) a joy to behold – even when the characters played by Barrymore and Fallon do some pretty silly things.

Lindsey (Barrymore), an ambitious business consultant, finds herself in a love triangle when she falls for Ben (Fallon), a charming and funny high school teacher. “You’re a lyrical soul,” she tells him. “You can love under the best and worst conditions.” (Their horrible first date would certainly qualify one of those “worst conditions.”) But instead of another woman, Lindsey’s competition comes from the Boston Red Sox. Because Ben is obsessed with the Bosox, his life revolves around his beloved baseball team. Unfortunately, baseball is about as important to Lindsey as business is to Ben, so it’s no surprise when their relationship faces a serious crisis. To survive as a couple, Lindsey and Ben must decide if they can overcome their differences and keep love alive.

No doubt quite a few women will identify with the theme here. A man’s obsession with sports can sometimes drive his wife or girlfriend crazy. It doesn’t have to be baseball. For example, I can attest to personal experience as a “golf widow.” My husband spends most of his time playing golf or watching it on television – and at first this annoyed me (to put it mildly), but I’ve learned to deal with it. In fact, I’m even happy now that he finds such pleasure in the game of golf. And I think he’s come to accept my similar obsession with all things movie related.

Evidently, those kinds of compromises are what drew Barrymore to “Fever Pitch.” “It’s first and foremost a love story,” she explains. “You could remove the baseball component, and the questions it asks would remain the same: How much do you have to change to have a successful relationship? To what degree do you accept a person for who they are and just work with it?”

Barrymore picked Fallon (“Taxi”) to co-star with her in “Fever Pitch” because she enjoyed working with him on “Saturday Night Live.” A wise choice -- Fallon hits a home run as Ben. He prepared for this role by traveling to Boston’s Fenwick Park and meeting Boston Red Sox fans who were just as obsessive as his character in the movie. “I got caught up in their enthusiasm and the whole Fenway Park experience,” he says. That trip paid off for Fallon -- I definitely believed in Ben’s overwhelming passion for the Red Sox.

Barrymore and Fallon make a cute on-screen couple. He’s like a kinder, gentler Adam Sandler, and she’s as luminous as ever. Because of Barrymore’s appealing performance in this film as well as in “Ever After,” “The Wedding Singer” and “50 First Dates,” she should be crowned “The Queen of Romantic Comedy.” Hope I’m invited to the coronation.



Betty Jo Tucker

The Farrelly Brothers are famous filmmakers for their raunchy comedies of good nature, such as There’s Something About Mary, Me, Myself & Irene, and Shallow Hal. Over the past few years, the brothers’ direction has seemed to be approaching tameness, such as with there last film Stuck on You. Their latest film, Fever Pitch, a romantic comedy with the backdrop of baseball is for sure their most disciplined, but also one of their best.

The film is based off the book by Nick Hornby, who also wrote the novels of two other stellar films, High Fidelity and About a Boy. Hornby’s book actually centers on a soccer fan, instead of a Boston Red Sox baseball fan as the film perceives. There was a previous film version of this Hornby book that came out a few years back with Colin Firth in the lead role.

There are changes to Hornby’s consensus, but his balanced touch is still the lingering spirit in Fever Pitch. The film follows a normal school teacher named Ben (Jimmy Fallon), who falls for a workaholic business woman named Lindsey (Drew Barrymore). As the two’s relationship begins to blossom, Lindsey’s nosey friends begin to question as to why such a likeable thirty-something like Ben is still on the market. As the season begins to change from winter to spring, Lindsey learns of Ben’s personal obsession with the Boston Red Sox baseball team. His apartment looks like a souvenir shop at Fenway Park, and he has inherited two season tickets a few rows behind the Red Sox dugout from his late uncle. Ben also goes as far as taking his vacation time to spend at the Red Sox Spring Training in Florida.

Lindsey accepts Ben’s obsession and passion for the Red Sox, and actually goes to the games with him as well as develops her knowledge of the team, the sport, and the all mighty curse. In which, this film takes place during last season, when the Red Sox actually broke the curse and became World Champions for the first time since 1918. However, understandably Ben’s obsession begins to affect the two’s relationship. His engulfment is humorous, but nearly embarrassing; such as when he doesn’t t even know that Lindsey is struck in the head by foul ball due to congratulating the fan who actually caught the ball. This film is a mixture of comedy and baseball, but it is first and foremost a love story.

Though being formulaic and little over the top at times, Fever Pitch is a winner as a romantic comedy. It is one of the best date movies to come out in awhile, and the attraction of the Red Sox may bring in more males than one might expect. The Farrelly brothers are patient with each comedic setup, and there are only two mild raunchy moments in the entire film. It is a drastic change in the two brothers’ nature; there is not one bodily function moment (the vomit scene happens off screen) or the mistreatment of an animal or being (except a few people getting hit in the head). Fever Pitch is a distinctive film for the Farrelly’s in terms of tone, but not in nature, remember how touching at times Shallow Hal was. It is obvious the two brothers also love the Boston Red Sox, and they are not hesitant in showing ample amounts of footage of last year’s team. Certainly the Farrelly brothers paint this film with an altered stroke, but there direction is acceptable and consistent.

The directing brothers also get help from Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Manuel’s commendable script. The two writing partners have written other enjoyable comedies such as Parenthood, Splash, and another baseball set film with A League of Their Own. Ganz and Manuel’s script has hardly any surprises or any exceptional dialogue, but it works. It also helps with having the blueprint inspired by the originality of Nick Hornby.

Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore have wonderful chemistry together and their romance is tender and believable. Barrymore has grown more comfortable with her comedic traits. As Lindsey, Barrymore is sweet and genuine, and it is the best chemistry she has ever had with a lead actor except for Adam Sandler (The Wedding Date, 50 First Dates). Fallon, who is a SNL alum and was dreadful in last year’s Taxi, excels in his best role to date as the loyal and definite Ben. A lot of the film’s posture and scenes are driven by Barrymore and Fallon, and the two make a terrific team. Outside of a lot of Red Sox baseball players, other notables are Ione Skye (Say Anything) in a come-back role as Lindsey’s best friend and a funny performance by James B. Sikking as Lindsey’s father.

Fever Pitch is an entertaining romantic comedy that is nowhere near perfect or brilliant, but just a cheerful film that will make you smile. The Farrelly brothers take a different tone in their direction, and it seems to be a good change.

Bailey Henderson

The Farrelly Brothers has always exceeded on displaying and capitalizing on the absurd. They defined the “gross-out” slapstick comedy and always created controversy or two in their wake.

Then why is there just a whisper and a whimper when mentioning their latest comedy, “Fever Pitch”. It seems that the only shock here is that there is none at all.

“Fever Pitch” stars Drew Barrymore and SNL’s Jimmy Fallon as Lindsey and Ben, a couple struggling to find love in an often over-bearing world. She has her crazy job and well he has his zany obsession, major league baseball.

Ben’s “uber-geek” obsession with the Boston Red Sox has been with him since he was a little boy. He has built his life around the team and everything in his entire apartment reflects the team in some way or another.

His obsession for the game is starting to wear down Lindsey and their life together may be in jeopardy.

Can this “sports geek” stop from watching the team for one minute and meet the woman of his dreams half way? So what’s the score? Then again, maybe not.

“Fever Pitch” is surprisingly a pretty much straight-forward romantic comedy. The couple always has to make the ultimate decision. The couple struggles and then their love overcomes.

The crazy thing is that I know guys like Ben. I also know what it’s like to be a geek because I am a card-carrying member.

I could relate on many levels with the plight of the Lindsey and Ben. I just had a hard time relating to his obsession with baseball. As the film clicked along I found myself substituting my own geek obsession with that of Ben’s and I found the film a lot more enjoyable.

I did have a lot of problems when I looked at the film’s running time and the script. I liked some of the scenes which feature Lindsey facing off against Ben’s obsession. I loved the scene where she opens up his closet and every single one of his shirts is a baseball shirt. I could so relate to that.

I liked the performances of Barrymore and Fallon but felt the film never went as over the top or never got as genuine as it should have. I am not asking for an “after school special” on geeks and their obsessive worlds. All I am saying is that the film should have dealt with other ways to deal with these problems. Instead of the Hollywood cliché, love will conquer all.

“Fever Pitch” is a must see for anyone who has to deal with a geek on a daily basis. But mainly it’s for sports geeks and their significant others. So all you armchair athletes and NASCAR dads, “Fever Pitch” is so for you.

So Says the Soothsayer

Dean Kish

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