FEVER PITCH

(Spring Training has just begun, and since my review for FEVER PITCH never made its way to the blog last Spring, here it is)

Drew Barrymore competes against Jimmy Fallon’s first love in the Farrelly brothers’ romantic comedy FEVER PITCH. Fallon is Ben, a school teacher, who meets Barrymore’s Lindsey during a class field trip at her place of employment. The two begin dating in the Fall, and everything couldn’t be going better, at least until Spring hits. Fallon is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, and from April to October his life is devoted to Red Sox baseball. His obsession with the Sox could jeopardize his relationship with Lindsey.

At times I felt as if I was watching my own reflection in FEVER PITCH. Although I’m a die-hard Reds, not Red Sox fan, there are far too many eerie similarities between Ben and I. The script, written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel and based on the Nick Hornby novel, is sharp in its dissection of sports obsessed individuals and those who love them. I’ve never read a Hornby novel, but following his other adaptations, HIGH FIDELITY and ABOUT A BOY, it's no wonder they’ve been plucked for big-screen material. The Farrelly brothers work here is just as impressive as the writing. Although known for their absurd humor, they work a stroke magic with FEVER PITCH. They take advantage of bizarre, yet realistic scenarios, layer them with a touch of their quirky humor and ground them with two utterly likable characters. In addition to the skillful direction and wonderful script, FEVER PITCH gets an unexpectedly good performance out of Fallon. Barrymore is again charming, but Fallon is the surprise, bringing a warm-hearted interior to his outward fanaticism. FEVER PITCH isn’t a perfect game, but it's darn close.

Grade: A-