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"Fever Pitch" a catch for Farrellys |
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Written by RYAN COX
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Wednesday, 04 May 2005 |
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In "Fever Pitch," Jimmy Fallon plays Ben, a 30-year-old tenth grade teacher who is so obsessed with the Boston Red Sox that it colors every aspect of his life. He even considers himself to be two different people: his winter person, during the baseball off-season, when he is more like a normal human, and his summer person, when the Red Sox are playing, and it consumes his life.
It’s the kind of personality quirk that is somewhat endearing in romantic comedies, but anyone like that in real life would be annoying, completely neurotic, and very dull.
Enter Lindsey Meeks (Barrymore), an ambitious, independent corporate climber, a woman so driven by her career that she has let it ruin her romantic prospects, and uses it as a crutch to make excuses for never having had a fulfilling relationship (all the men are always threatened by her success). Naturally, the two of them hit it off, and everything goes swimmingly until spring rolls around, and Ben becomes Summer Man.
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| "Fever Pitch" |
Entertainment: 
Art:
Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Written by Lowell Ganz
Starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon
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Barrymore plays Lindsey as a smart, together woman who pragmatically picks her dating partners, and even though Ben falls far short of what she normally requires, she can’t help being swept away. Otherwise, we learn virtually nothing about her character. She is presented entirely within the spectrum of how she relates to Ben, and we see her doing her best to integrate herself into his lifestyle and her life subsequently begins to suffer for it. Eventually she takes a stand, which is the catalyst for the climax, but in the end, Ben still wins and gets the best of both worlds. Ben is repeatedly characterized as being immature, selfish and sometimes outright hostile, but Lindsey loves him anyway, and ultimately he is rewarded. The lesson of the movie seems to be that whoever has the bigger neurosis in a relationship is the one who should be accommodated.
Barrymore is a reasonably gifted comedic actress, and while "Fever Pitch" is an adequate enough summer date film, it’s Fallon’s movie. I can’t help but hold a soft spot in my heart for Drew, and it saddens me somewhat to see her constantly playing second fiddle in movies to men whose 15 minutes should have expired long ago.
Overall, the latest offering from the Brothers Farrelly is pretty in line with their oeuvre, minus any of the gross-out humor that marks all of their other work. It’s a kinder, gentler Farrelly, with nary even a cuss word in sight, but it’s charming through and through. Sometimes we need to just sit in the dark and believe in the miracle of two people working through impossible odds together to come out bigger and better on the other side, even if we know that it’s actually totally unbelievable, and in real life, anyone with an obsession as powerful as Ben’s is for the Red Sox would most likely be institutionalized. It’s hyperbole as metaphor and we root for him to win the girl and live happily after ever. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
