Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch is the much ballyhooed romantic comedy from the Farrelly brother that revolves around the Red Sox and their World Champion season in 2003 and 2004. At its heart Fever Pitch is a mildly crude romantic comedy about two people who aren’t quite perfect for each other but are about as perfect as anyone is likely to find in this world. The film is sweet and cute though it is a bit distracting that it is book ended by a voiceover explaining that whole off-putting ‘the Red Sox won the World Series finally’ thing.

Now there has been a lot of fanfare that the stars Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon and the film crew were not only at the World Series win but were on the field during the celebration. This has raised much ire from the Red Sox faithful but I think they missed the point. This entire movie is a love story, not between a man and a woman, but between a man and a team. This film was made by the Farrelly brothers, two lifetime fans, and the film wasn’t meant to be about them winning the World Series, it was about the futility and dedication of Red Sox fans. That the Sox managed to win while the film was being made just caused the filmmakers problems. I don’t think that Fallon or Barrymore or the Farrellys meant any disrespect, they are just some famous people who ended up in the middle of something even bigger than their movie. That there is a movie highlighting the Red Sox championship is gravy for the fans.

Fever Pitch tells the story of Ben and Lindsey and their relationship. This could be considered a classic romantic comedy except that it breaks some of the classic romantic comedy rules. Now I’ve been told that because of this, and the obvious relation to baseball, that the movie appeals a lot more to guys than the usual romantic comedy. So guys this is your date night movie, finally a movie she’ll love that will be all sweet and that you can still stand. Drew Barrymore plays Lindsey Meeks a workaholic with a job involving mathematics that I just didn’t quite understand. Regardless, like most people in movies she works in a high rise in a big city, has her own office, has a secretary, and is putting in the hours and fighting unseen office politics for a big promotion. I don’t know anyone who works under such congenial circumstances, but I’m sure they exist somewhere in the world. Jimmy Fallon plays Ben, a ninth grade school teacher, who brings some of his promising math students to meet someone working with mathematics on a daily basis and is swiftly taken with the lovely and sweet Lindsey. Now the casting here was nearly perfect. Drew Barrymore has really come into her own as the heroine of romantic comedies. She is able to play a sweet yet annoying character who is just sweet enough and only slightly annoying in just the right measure to be adorable and believable. Jimmy Fallon, of Saturday Night Live fame, is a star on the rise. Fallon seems able to play the everyman in much the way Adam Sandler does, but in a much less annoying manner.

The two meet, worry that the other is too perfect, but decide to try a relationship anyway. Lindsey’s big character flaw is that she is a workaholic and that she tends to date guys who are ultra-competitive so in dating Ben the teacher she is already over some of her biggest hurdles. But the heart of the story, as the title suggests, is Ben’s overwhelming obsession with the Boston Red Sox. Ben is so obsessed that it is almost a joke but he and the other season ticket holders are shown in such a humane way that it keeps them all from being pathetic losers. Ben moved to Boston as a child and as a kid with no friends in a big unknown town his beloved Uncle Carl introduced him to baseball, Boston Red Sox baseball. Uncle Carl even left Ben his season tickets in his will; which I am told is not an uncommon occurrence for the afflicted sports enthusiast.

Now of course the first rule of romantic comedies is that the two leads never get together until the very end. Think about It Happened One Night and the walls of Jericho or more recently of While You Were Sleeping or Sleepless in Seattle, the leads never get together until the very end of the film. The only exception to this is either a drunken encounter or something that brings on the climax of misunderstanding and the eventual understanding like in When Harry Met Sally. Of course there is none of that here; the physical part of the relationship seems to be the one area where things are going completely right for Ben and Lindsey.

The one thing that really bothered me here was the friend aspect. Now having a good buddy to tell all of the relationship stuff to is very important to a romantic comedy. In recent years Carrie Fisher has brought the role of romantic comedy friend and confidant to an art form. But here the friends don’t really work. Ben has two classes of friends, Red Sox fans, whom he spends a lot of time with but never really confides his relationship issues in, and his students. Now I don’t know about you but I don’t think I have ever heard a teacher confide any personal information to the often bratty kids that they instruct. In fact most teachers zealously guard their private lives from little prying eyes, but not Ben. He spends his time talking about his relationship and asking junior high kids for their opinions on the state of his relationship. Ironically, and most likely because this is a movie and thus far removed from reality, the students give him some very solid advice, but it still feels forced. Lindsey, on the other hand, has a group of three disparate friends who regularly get together for spinning classes, dinners, and small parties, very Sex In The City. The problem is that some of these people are so unlikable and so mean to each other that it is a wonder that these people are friends at all especially after one of them punches the other out for no good reason. Yes women can be catty, but they usually have some redeeming qualities that don’t involve physical violence, competitiveness, or derogatory statements.

The relationship goes well with winter Ben but come spring the Red Sox occupy place number one in Ben’s heart. Lindsey just can’t compete with a lifetime of commitment to a whole team and this is the crux of the film. Eventually, people of a certain age and at a certain point in a relationship start to think about the future. Now of course women usually reach this ‘where is it going’ point earlier than men, and this is what many romantic comedies are about. Fever Pitch is no different. The question is if a 27 year devotion to an entire team and a way of life is worth more than a 6 month relationship with the possible future mother of one’s children.

The pace is kept going and the leads are cute in this affable romantic comedy from the Farrelly Brothers. Any complaints I have revolve not around the leads who perform their roles admirable but about some of the questionable supporting cast. Just like in a baseball season the film turns into high gear just in time for the playoffs and reaches a climax when the Sox take on their hated rivals the New York Yankees. The Farrellys give equal screen time to an interest in love as they do an interest in baseball and the result is a date night movie that will please both men and women.