Fever Pitch (2005)

I never really cared for the Red Sox, but after watching this, I think I may start loving them.

Everything’s going great between baseball fanatic Ben (Jimmy Fallon) and his new girlfriend, Lindsay (Drew Barrymore). But when spring rolls around and baseball season begins, Ben’s overwhelming obsession with the Boston Red Sox threatens to destroy their relationship.

I’m not a huge baseball guy in all honesty, I’m more of a football and basketball guy, but I’m not obsessed with a certain team when it comes to me liking sports. But I know plenty of people that are die hard fans all the way, and since I’m from Philly, that means a whole lot.

The one thing that kind of had me worried about this film was that it’s directed by The Farrelly Brothers, who are basically known for films like There’s Something About Mary, Kingpin, and more, all that feature the signature gross-out humor their known for. And surprisingly there is no offensive or gross-out humor here, it’s all about being cute.

And cute is just exactly the right cord they hit here. The romance starts off slow and dull, then it becomes something bigger, and you believe it. There is also a lot of sports stuff here, and it’s really true to the point of how die hards act. But you can feel the love for sports in this movie, as well the excitement and craziness it brings to its fans.But it’s not just supporting the life of obsession to sports, it shows how it can sometimes destroy your personal life, and keep you sheltered off from the real world.

By watching the first 10 minutes of this film you can already tell where it’s going. It’s very predictable, and there is a little dry spot in the middle of the film that took a lot away from the film I thought. There were a couple of laughs here and there, but it was never too funny to the point of where I started cracking up non-stop.

Probably what elevates this whole movie is the leads. Jimmy Fallon is great here, he’s funny, cool, and overall believable. I believed him when he was in love, I believed him when he was trying to fall in love, I believed him as a sports, and a teacher, and everything about his performance is so natural. Drew Barrymore is also very good here as the woman, that can’t stand by forever and wait for the love of her life to eventually grow up and realize there’s more than just baseball. These two have good scenes together, and their love seems true. I wish there was more side characters in this film to give their perspectives on everything, as well as some other characters that weren’t quite as developed as others.

Consensus: Fever Pitch my be predictable, but it’s sweet, and charming much ado to the chemistry between Fallon and Barrymore.

6/10=Rental!!!