Film Review: Fever Pitch (2005)

Hollywood often resorts to outlandish “high concepts”, but few looked as outlandish to the author of this review as the one used for Fever Pitch, 2005 comedy directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly. The basis for the film is eponymous 1992 book of memoirs by celebrated British author Nick Hornby, chronicling his decades-long love of Arsenal Football Club and all the frustrations that came with it. The author of this review has read the book and was, initially, quite surprised to find that someone had decided to make the collection of autobiographical essays into romantic comedy.

Truth to be told, it was already done before in Hornby’s native Britain, when the same book became basis for eponymous 1997 film starring Colin Firth as Hornby’s fictional alter ego. In the meantime, Hornby has proven that his works can be adapted into successful films like High Fidelity and About a Boy.

This being a Hollywood remake, it was rather expected to have the plot and characters Americanised. The setting was transplanted from London to Boston and football replaced with baseball, with the Boston Red Sox standing in for Arsenal. The protagonist, Benjamin "Ben" Wrightman (played by Jimmy Fallon), is a school teacher and lifelong Red Sox fan who falls for corporate executive Lindsey Meeks (played by Drew Barrymore). The problem lies in Ben's inability to balance his love for Lindsey with his devotion to the Red Sox season.

Fever Pitch was marketed almost exclusively to North American audiences, and the differences between football and baseball, as well as the fans' subcultures, ultimately mattered little in the end. The baseball backdrop was reduced to a generic romantic comedy plot. While the premise has potential to explore the tensions between personal obsessions and interpersonal commitments, the script by Lowell Gantz and Babaloo Mandel reduces these themes to tired rom-com clichés.

The casting of Jimmy Fallon as Ben is a particularly egregious misstep, as the comedian lacks the charisma and emotional depth required to portray a character struggling to reconcile his love of baseball with his desire for a meaningful relationship. His lacks chemistry with Drew Barrymore, a charming actress who seemed more suitable for this role, but unable to elevate the pedestrian script.

The Farrelly brothers' direction is uninspired, with only occasional nods to the edginess that characterized their earlier work. The film's PG-13 rating further neuters any potential for the kind of subversive humor that might have elevated the material.

Ironically, the film's climax, which coincides with the Red Sox's historic 2004 World Series victory, serves to highlight how the real-life drama of that event is far more compelling than the contrived fictional narrative. The filmmakers' decision to shoehorn this real-world triumph into their generic romantic comedy only underscores the fundamental disconnect between Hornby's original vision and the Hollywood product.

In the end, Fever Pitch stands as a cautionary tale of how the process of Americanization and high-concept adaptation can strip away the nuance and authenticity of a work, leaving behind a hollow shell of a film.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

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