Fever Pitch film REVIEW |

Barrymore plants a cheek-kiss on Fallon in Fever Pitch, 2005.

Three things about Fever Pitch are surprising right off the bat.

It’s a Nick Hornby adaptation that doesn’t star Hugh Grant.

It’s about baseball, but Kevin Costner doesn’t even cameo.

Jimmy Fallon isn’t innately annoying.

Perhaps even more surprisingly: the movie is actually sort of good.  Shockingly, it manages to balance the competing tones of SNL-style comedy, girly romance, a guys-guy Nick Hornby book, and the quintessentially American sports movie, which is no easy feat.

Fever Pitch is about Red Sox fanatic Ben (Fallon), and Lindsey (Barrymore) – the woman who loves him.

And of course, who wants him to love her more than he loves the Sox. (Likely!)

The two participate in an understated romance. (And with the exception of an extremely hard-to-swallow first date, they are believable as a couple.) Ben is also likeable. And despite his all-consuming baseball obsession, fairly relatable, which isn’t to say the movie is without its flaws.

Lindsey’s best friends – the token fat one, the competitive bitchy one, and the nice one (who, FYI, is played by Ione Sky for all you Six-Degrees-to-Kevin-Bacon fanatics) – are cookie cutter caricatures, and practically irrelevant to the storyline. And sorry, but no matter how rich they are, 20-and-30-somethings in 2005 do not throw Gatsby-themed birthday parties complete with expensive costumes and live trombone … and if they do, they’re losers.

That said, there’s more to Fever Pitch than the “they belong together/there’s conflict/they end up together” rom-com formula.

It’s far more successful at bridging the comedy/romance gap than say, 50 First Dates (also starring Barrymore and an SNL alumn, Adam Sandler), and far more guy-friendly than traditional date movie fare.

What is most compelling about Fever Pitch is that, like Titanic, Saving Private Ryan and Life is Beautiful (I know it sounds unlikely, but stay with me here), it focuses on an individual narrative set against the backdrop of historic events.

The 2004 baseball season ain’t no holocaust story, but the principle is the same.

The end of the Curse of the Bambino was truly epic and Fever Pitch captures its intensity.

For the nostalgia of that alone, it’s worth watching.

Fever Pitch opens in theatres today (April 8, 2005).

An edited version of this Fever Pitch film review was published in Dose, April 8, 2005 and appears below. More film and television pieces are here.

Published in Dose, April 5, 2005.