April 07, 2005 - At Fenway Park, sitting next to the Red Sox dugout and looking across the field to the famous green monster, I'm led to wonder, does being a fan influence my opinion of Fever Pitch? A dilemma. But I must conclude, I would be lying to myself if I said no. This I admit to you, because as a valued reader, knowing that I cheered like a madman when Johnny Damon belted that first inning grand slam in game 7 of the 2004 ALCS is something you should know while reading my opinion of the film – which I have now seen twice. Separating the Red Sox fan from the movie critic, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Fever Pitch, loosely based on the novel by author Nick Hornby, isn't all that. But it is simply pleasant.

The purveyor of such pleasantness is Drew Barrymore, and I cannot escape the impression that being so inundated with the veracity of Red Sox nation, or just the aura of such fandom, she's sincerely a trooper. Therefore she must be admired for venturing into this bold new world. She plays Lindsay, a corporate go-getter who loves numbers. Her office is "the church of numbers," she says, "and every day is Sunday." For Barrymore, this isn't a stretch. It's Drew being Drew, all smiley and cute. But it may be her best romantic comedy. (Does she do anything better?)

With scruffy charm, Jimmy Fallon plays Ben, Lindsay's new school teacher boyfriend. It's the depth of Ben's love for the Red Sox that has Lindsay concerned. Where does it end? And more importantly, where does she really stand in his grand scheme of importance? She did see Ben interviewed on ESPN state that his priorities are as follows: Red Sox, breathing, and sex.

But wouldn't you know it, Fever Pitch is actually a story about two obsessed people, for Lindsay is just as shallow and obsessed about her career as Ben is about his beloved Red Sox. Its humor is in their environmental clashes: Ben in Lindsay's office joking about corporate backstabbing; and Linsday looking at the clothes in Ben's closet, fretting, "You're a man-boy! Half man, half boy!"

	-20th Century Fox

Lindsay and Ben I suppose are compatible in the way that opposites attract, and they have opposite obsessions that, if not valued, stand to pull them apart. Lindsay wants Ben to come with her to Paris to close a deal, and at the same time Ben wants to catch a couple important baseball games. Lindsay would never miss a business opportunity, with or without Ben, and Ben would never miss an inning, with or without Lindsay. The painful part is they both do want to be together, so something has got to give. Actually, what they do have in common is they're not Boston natives, an element surely scripted to spare us ninety-eight minutes of Barrymore and Fallon with accents. That wouldn't be wicked. Remember: They want us to laugh with them, not at them.

The romance works, but inevitably it isn't a home run, it's more like a double. It's nice, but you can't win unless you score. "All those things you feel for the team, I feel them for you, too!" says Lindsay. Ben forgoes one game to be with Lindsay. But his heart, it appears, wasn't really in the sacrifice. I fear he may have had to "cowboy up" and miss an entire homestand to make his commitment convincing. We need a little more to make us, as the saying goes, "believe."

The Farrelly brothers have done something really nice here. They've made a move that will certainly please everyone, except I suppose die-hard Yankee fans. It's in the obvious attempt to please die-hard Red Sox fans that the movie seems to distance itself from everyone else in the world. Do we really need to see Stephen King on the mound? Do we really need to hear Dropkick Murphy's "Tessie" blaring so loudly? (Lindsay must really love Ben if she's going to put up with that stupid song.) Do they really need to press the point that historically the Red Sox have been on the losing end? I guess some points had to be made to acclimate non-Sox fans to their history, but we don't need that much. They could have eased up on the sappiness.

Here's what's great about Fever Pitch: The Farrelly brothers took their shot, and overall it works; Fallon and Barrymore are infectiously gung-ho; and thanks to them, and to Nick Hornby, the movie is a rarity for a romantic comedy. It's cool.

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