Fever Pitch

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  • Fever Pitch

    This is just out on dvd. I wanted to see it because I like Nick Hornby, I like the Farrelly brothers, I like Drew Barrymore and I love baseball.



    So, it was a big disappointment to find that this movie is a paint-by-numbers romantic comedy which represents everything I hate about writers who follow the general screenwriting paradigm. On top of that, there is virtually no comedy. There are some amusing moments, but no real laughs. (and on top of THAT, they revised the ending to show the Red Sox actually winning the World Series......bleh)



    Here is a rundown of the story. I would say there are spoilers, if it werent all so predictable.



    First, we meet GUY, who is a teacher. He doesnt always follow the curriculum, but he has a big heart. Also, he is an orphan, which not only invokes sympathy, but dispenses with any uneccesary characters.

    Then, we meet GIRL. Shes an executive who never had time to settle down. Shes always looking at papers or talking on her cellphone, usually while walking very fast because shes got places to go. Shes bucking for a promotion.

    GUY asks GIRL out on a date. At first she says no, in part because her ****-blocking friends dont like the sound of this guy. No reason for this, except the story needed some CONFLICT.

    He's upset. You can tell because he tackles some people during a touch football game.

    She relents, in part because shes the BIG 30 and isnt getting any younger. But on the night of the first date, she gets food poisoning. Instead of running out the door, he puts her to bed and stays all night to make sure shes okay. This makes her fall for him. (it doesnt seem creepy to her that a stranger stays in her apartment all night while she's passed out).

    They continue to date all Winter (we can tell because there is a montage of them being happy together).

    But here's the catch. GUY is really a maniacal Red Sox Fan. It consumes his life during the summer months. (How a teacher can afford $20,000 worth of season tickets isn't adressed. But hey, it's only a movie).

    This causes some stress because she wants them to spend time together. He takes her to lots of games, but shes usually on her laptop or cellphone. Work, work, work......

    Baseball season is l-o-n-g. Luckily, there is a montage which whisks up right through to October.

    The Sox have made the playoffs, and GUY is so consumed by it he doesn't notice that GIRL is seeing someone else.

    Anyway, some other stuff happens, and the Sox win the big game, and eveybody lives happily ever after.


    The screenplay has characters acting caring and rational when it requires them to fall in love, and then acting distracted and irrational when it needs some conflict. There is not one original thought or compelling idea anywhere, and if it were not for the Sox pulling that one out of their butts, this movie would have been DOA.

    I did laugh once, though, when Fallon did his Jimmy Stewart impression.

    That gets me every time.

  • #2
    Re: Fever Pitch

    Yep.
    http://confoundedfilms.com

    http://www.myspace.com/confoundedfilms

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Fever Pitch

      I enjoyed the original Fever Pitch with Colin Firth even though the female lead was woefully miscast. I haven't seen this version yet but Ebert and Roeper both said it is one of the best films of 2005 when theyreviewed the DVD on their show a couple of weeks ago. For whatever that's worth.

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      • #4
        Re: Fever Pitch

        This looks cringingly bad. I love baseball, but most sport's films don't get it right.
        That and I HATE the Sox and their whining fans. This film is probably not for me.

        This isn't the Howard Johnson's.

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        • #5
          Re: Fever Pitch

          Two things:

          Drew Barrymore's character has a degree in mathematics and her job revolves around numbers and abstracts, yet she does not even have a passing interest in baseball, which is odd to me.

          Back in 2003 when this script was sold as a remake of the English film, there was a thread where someone named GroundskeeperWilly said that this film would not work with the Red Sox because the whole plot revolved around an underdog team overcoming the odds to win a championship....Who knew.

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          • #6
            Re: Fever Pitch

            Originally posted by Hairy Lime
            Yep II.

            I also thought the english version was decent. I think they showed other relationships not working out or he discussed the previous relationships not working out more. I dont' exactly remember. Also Colin Firth seems a more unlikely sports fanatic then Jimmy Fallon and that makes his obsession funnier.

            Last night in San Pedro

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            • #7
              Re: Fever Pitch

              Jimmy fallon is a butcher. he butchers his lines, butchers the timing in the scenes, something i thought he could mend with the dozens of takes alloted to you in movies as opposed to the sometimes from the cuff skits on saturday night.

              he is terrible. he has no comic presence and no comedic timing, he laughs at himself most of the time. he's not funny.

              he is the dredge of nbc and his two movie busts will put him back where he belongs as a never will be, and eventually we'll see him on UPN playing the 'snyder character' with two good looking black women, one a strong girl, and the other a beauty queen, dumb girl.

              fever pitch was racid, even the cover of the box doesnt' look like barrymore.

              vig

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              • #8
                Re: Fever Pitch

                Nick Hornby is rubbish. There, I said it.
                ENNIS spits in the palm of his hand, puts it on himself.

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