Fever Pitch

Saw "Fever Pitch" the other night, the romantic comedy about a fanatic Red Sox fan with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a Farrelly brothers movie based on a novel by Nick Hornby about a British soccer fan. They had to change the ending when the Red Sox shocked everyone and won the World Series, as they were filming last year's season. (Similarly, Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan had a contract with Scribner's to write a book about last year's Red Sox season and they had an "elevator clause" that upped their price if the Sox won the Series, which obviously paid off.) The leads have absolutely no chemistry and some of the dialogue was so unbelievable that we were impressed that the actors could deliver the lines with any semblance of reality. (Not to mention security guards at Fenway stepping aside to let the leads have a tender reunion scene after Barrymore has run across the field during a playoff game.) However, I saw it with a former boyfriend who is a serious baseball fan. (He owns a condo in Scottsdale, AZ, that he rents out for 11 months and the tenant must move out in March, when he lives there so he can attend spring training games.) While he's not quite as obsessed as the movie character, many of the scenes rang true, as when Barrymore complains that when someone asks her whether they can attend some event she has to go to her refrigerator and check the team's schedule to find out whether there's a home game that day. So, we had a fun time although I can't in good conscience recommend it in general.

Fever Pitch

Saw "Fever Pitch" the other night, the romantic comedy about a fanatic Red Sox fan with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a Farrelly brothers movie based on a novel by Nick Hornby about a British soccer fan. They had to change the ending when the Red Sox shocked everyone and won the World Series, as they were filming last year's season. (Similarly, Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan had a contract with Scribner's to write a book about last year's Red Sox season and they had an "elevator clause" that upped their price if the Sox won the Series, which obviously paid off.) The leads have absolutely no chemistry and some of the dialogue was so unbelievable that we were impressed that the actors could deliver the lines with any semblance of reality. (Not to mention security guards at Fenway stepping aside to let the leads have a tender reunion scene after Barrymore has run across the field during a playoff game.) However, I saw it with a former boyfriend who is a serious baseball fan. (He owns a condo in Scottsdale, AZ, that he rents out for 11 months and the tenant must move out in March, when he lives there so he can attend spring training games.) While he's not quite as obsessed as the movie character, many of the scenes rang true, as when Barrymore complains that when someone asks her whether they can attend some event she has to go to her refrigerator and check the team's schedule to find out whether there's a home game that day. So, we had a fun time although I can't in good conscience recommend it in general.