Fever Pitch (2005)

Directors:

Bobby Farrelly
Peter Farrelly

Writers (WGA):

Nick Hornby (novel)
Lowell Ganz (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

8 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

A Comedy About The Game Of Love.

Plot:

Lindsay (Barrymore) is stuck in the middle of her relationship with Ben (Fallon) and his passion for the Boston Red Sox.

Plot Keywords:

Pun In Title | Volkswagen Beetle | Love | Birthday Party | Baseball Fan

Awards:

9 nominations

Cast

Drew Barrymore	...	Lindsey Meeks
Jimmy Fallon	...	Ben Wrightman
Jason Spevack	...	Ben in 1980
Jack Kehler	...	Al
Scott Severance	...	Artie (as Scott H. Severance)
Jessamy Finet	...	Theresa (as Jessamy R. Finet)
Maureen Keiller	...	Viv
Lenny Clarke	...	Uncle Carl
Ione Skye	...	Molly
KaDee Strickland	...	Robin
Marissa Jaret Winokur	...	Sarah
Evan Helmuth	...	Troy
Brandon Craggs	...	Casey
Brett Murphy	...	Ryan
Isabella Fink	...	Audrey

Also Known As:

The Perfect Catch (Australia) (Ireland: English title) (New Zealand: English title) (Philippines: English title) (Singapore: English title) (South Africa: English title) (UK)
Fever Pitch - Ein Mann für eine Saison (Germany) (DVD box title)
Mann für eine Saison, Ein (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and some sensuality.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:U | Finland:K-3 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41504) | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Germany:o.Al. | South Korea:12 | Iceland:L | Philippines:G | Brazil:10 | Australia:M | Ireland:12A | UK:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

ELC Productions Ltd.

Trivia:

The warm-up jacket 'Drew Barrymore' wears in the film became extremely popular among female Red Sox fans the week before its national release, and was sold out in stores all across New England.

Goofs:

Continuity: The foul ball that hit Lindsey was pitched by Mike Myers, who was shown on screen using a sidearm delivery. The Sportscenter replay clearly shows an overhand delivery.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Al: [voice over] Eighty-six years of bangin' our heads against the big green wall, but we finally did it. That part you know. That part everybody knows. But I got a story you don't know. It's about this schoolteacher friend of mine named Ben.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Star Spangled Banner

Sweet and Charming Date Movie

"Fever Pitch" is a sweet and charming addition to the small genre of sports romances as date movies or movies a son could be willing to go to with his mother (though the guys in the audience got noticeably restless during the romantic scenes).

I have lived through a milder version of such a story, as my first exposure to baseball was dating my husband the spring after the Mets first World Series win and then I watched the Mets clinch their next one because I was the one still up in the wee hours with our two little sons, who have grown up to teach me more about baseball through our local neighborhood National League team's other heartbreaking failures to win it again (and it was me who took our older son to his only Fenway Park game as I caught a bit of Red Sox fever as a graduate student in Boston).

So compared to reality, the script believably creates two people with actual jobs. It is particularly impressive that Drew Barrymore's character is a substantive workaholic who has anti-Barbie skills, though she pretty much only visits with her three bland girlfriends during gym workouts that allow for much jiggling and the minor side stories with her parents don't completely work.

It is even set up credibly how she meets Jimmy Fallon's math teacher and how she falls for his "winter guy" -- though it's surprising that his Red Sox paraphernalia filled apartment didn't tip her off to his Jekyll-and-Hyde "summer guy." Their relationship crisis during the baseball season is also played out in a refreshingly grown-up way, from efforts at compromise to her frank challenges to him, centered around that they are both facing thirty and single. Fallon surprisingly rises to his character's gradual emotional maturity.

While the ending borrows heavily from O. Henry, the script writers did a yeoman job of quickly incorporating the Sox's incredible 2004 season into a revised story line (with lots of cooperation from the Red Sox organization for filming at the stadium).

The script goes out of its way to explain why Fallon doesn't have a Boston accent, as an immigrant from New Jersey, but that doesn't explain why his motley friends don't. The most authentic sounding Boston sounds come from most of his "summer family" of other season ticket holders, who kindly kibitz the basics of Sox lore to neophyte Barrymore (and any such audience members).

The song selection includes many Red Sox fans' favorites, from the opening notes of the classic "Dirty Water," though most are held to be heard over the closing credits as if you are listening to local radio and are worth sitting through to hear.