Anthony's Film Review - Fever Pitch (2005)

A nice romantic comedy exploring obsessions and conflicts of interest...

The great thing about romantic comedies is how they explore various problems in dating and relationships. These topics can definitely serve as comedic material. For example, some couples may have problems because one partner has an obsession with something. It could be things like shopping, gambling, video games, strip clubs, or anything else. In real life, they are serious problems. But in movies, they can be funny.

Fever Pitch presents this problem with a baseball fanatic named Ben. He's a die-hard fan of the Boston Red Sox, all because his uncle would frequently take him to Fenway Park for Sox games. After this backstory, the movie jumps to the present where Jimmy Fallon is the grown-up Ben working as a ninth-grade school teacher. One day, he takes a few gifted students from his class on a field trip to a corporate business. There, Ben meets the lovely Lindsey, played by Drew Barrymore.

For a while, the movie doesn't actually focus on baseball. It's just a simple date movie where a man takes a woman out on a date. Interestingly, Ben and Lindsey's first date is in her apartment. When she is too sick to go out on their date night, Ben stays over to take care of her and clean her bathroom. Things seem to go just fine between the two. Later, they go to a party where one of Lindsey's friends warns her about Ben, presuming that Ben is single because of a major flaw.

And what a perfect time to bring it up. Because the Red Sox season has begun. It is such an exciting time for Ben, the superfan whose habit of seeing their games is a lifelong tradition. In one of the few funny scenes of the movie, Ben proposes to Lindsey. But it's not a wedding ring in that box. It's a ticket to the opening game. Surprisingly, she still says yes. For a while, she seems tolerant of his love of the Red Sox.

As you can imagine, things do get complicated. There are scheduling conflicts between Ben's attendance of Sox games and spending time with Lindsey. It does make her lose patience with him. Then they both discover something about themselves and each other. In short, a story about romance interfered by an obsession is very predictable. There are only so many possibilities as to how it ends, and chances are that you'll guess correctly. Fever Pitch may not score a home run, but it's still a sweet romantic movie.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Fever Pitch, visit the Internet Movie Database.