Review: Fever Pitch

Posted by: Dean Kish  •  April 8, 2005 @ 11:59am

Filed under: Reviews

The Farrelly Brothers have always exceeded in displaying and capitalizing on the absurd. They defined the "gross-out" slapstick comedy and always created a 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 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. (2.5 out of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.