| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A- |
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| Visuals: |
A- |
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Fever Pitch Swings For The Fences...And Connects
by Eric (movies profile)
May 2, 2007
99
of
130 people found this review helpful
Okay, so the Curse has been broken and all's well in the Universe. I won't lie and say that I'm a major baseball fan, but I AM curiously interested in baseball fans. And if you watch Fever Pitch, the new comedy from the Farrelly Brothers, you will see that I'm not alone. And what makes this better, you can take your girlfriend or wife with you.
The movie starts with the obvious, 2004 was the of the Red Sox. The whole universe in allignment thing, blah blah. But this isn't a story of THAT triumph, but a very personal one between two people: Lindsey (Drew Barrymore), a workaholic who is coming startlingly close to 30 (Why is it in most movies that 30 seems to be the dreadded number, though in those same movies, their relationships seem to be better than those in their 20s), and Ben (Jimmy Fallon), laid-back school teacher and all-around great guy. They know their relationship is oddly warm, especially since Lindsey is surprised how comfortable she is with someone that isn't as competitive as she. But he does have one little personality qwirk that might make or break them; he's a Boston Red Sox fan (and after you look around his apartment, you can say that he might be one of their biggest, but that doesn't make him obsessive). At first, Lindsey is supportive, taking off work to go to games and generally has fun. Then the fun wears off when it becomes clear that Ben will sacrifice doing things with her to go to a game that might or might not be all that important. Hint to a Sox fan, if your girlfriend gets tickets to take you to Paris for a romantic weekend, they have Fox Sports in France (I think. If not, blame O'Reilly).
But what this movie's charm consists of is that in most cases, this movie doesn't play to contrived romantic comedy routines. Instead it works on the inner-knowledge of human behavior. It's always interesting to see someone go through the motions of choosing between two things that a person wants more than anything. And Ben, bless his heart, is trying the best he can. And Lindsey, bless her heart, tries her best to understand this man and be supportive when his team becomes just as important to him as she is (I'll never say it comes first, because I don't think they ever do). How this movie ends isn't really the point but just a means to close the movie down. I'm pretty sure that you will agree that this story will never end. With each new season comes a whole new series of challenges and conflicts.
With romantic comedies, it's all about chemestry. So many things have to come off right for the film to just be good. Since Fever Pitch is great, you can only imagine how they pulled this one off. First, the cast of this film is excellent. From leads Fallon and Berrymore, we have not only a believable couple who fight and laugh over things that most people would, but they are come off as wonderful human beings. Fallon uses his charm that he desperately needed in the dreadful Taxi, and I can now see in him a superb comedic lead. Berrymore has been one of those actresses that I never fully felt like she deserved the star status. But in this film, she comes off as a woman who isn't neccessarily desperate, but extremely faithful to a complicated man. They treat their friends not as small characters, but ones with rich histories, and even a little ironicly too.
But the biggest surprise is that this film was directed by The Farrellys. I had to do a double take to make sure I read the credit right. This has to be their first movie that doesn't have a fart joke (but it makes up for it with a vomit joke). The Farrellys take Nick Hornsby's novel about a soccer fan and show the American version with the same precision and detail, if only giving it a rather conventional ending. But the ending is forgiveable for the reasons I mentioned before.
All in all, this film is not only recommendable, but I think is one of the best date movies you will find in theatres this year. Hey, if the Sox can win the World Series, you know that anything can happen. Even a date movie that even a guy will want to see. |
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