"That's a nice-a donut."
Monday, July 24, 2006
Fever Pitch (1997)
With the world's most popular sporting event, the World Cup, finishing up it's quadrennial run just recently it seemed only fitting to review a soccer movie (or, rather "football" as its known just about everywhere in the world besides the United States). It is a very popular sport indeed, with more countries participating in the Cup and its qualifying events than there are countries in the United Nations. It is so popular that players have been murdered for playing poorly, and fans have been murdered by hecklers after their team lost. And it just so happens that renowned author Nick Hornby wrote an autobiographical story about his lifelong love of football - and the woman that almost got in the way one year - in Fever Pitch. You might recognize the title as a recent romantic comedy, starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, about a man who must choose between his love of the Boston Red Sox and his love of a woman. That was actually a remake of this British version, which was directed by David Evans.
Colin Firth stars as Paul Ashworth, a twenty (or maybe thirty) -something schoolteacher who loves Arsenal, an English Premier League team. But, despite the fact that they seem to be complete opposites, he begins to fall for Sarah (Ruth Gemmell), another teacher at his school. As their relationship develops, Arsenal is also making a run at a possible league championship, which inevitably causes some issues between them.
This is all intercut with some scenes from Paul's youth, related to his love of football. For instance, an early such scene shows Paul's dad taking him to his first football game - the look on his face as he first enters the stadium is priceless and is a great picture that shows childhood transcendence into the love of a sport. These scenes provide some good background and a nice parallel to the present (taking place in 1989), but they also sometimes break up the momentum from the main story.
Probably the biggest weakness of the film, and it is a big one to be sure, is that I never cared for Paul and Sarah as a couple. While some opposites may indeed attract, this pair just seemed too different with almost no chemistry between them. Individually though, Firth and Gemmell are world's better than their remake counterparts in Fallon and Barrymore. Though I suppose its hard to be any worse.
There are some other differences with the remake, which overall serve to make this a somewhat superior version. For one, it isn't as pushy or explicit about Paul's devotion to Arsenal as Fallon's character was to the Red Sox in the newer tale. And I think this is a good thing, as it allows for more subtlety and complexity in his love for the sport and his favorite team. I especially liked the way Paul and his friend interacted during the climactic final game, it was very true to life, especially how one of them was incredibly optimistic and the other was ready to throw in the towel from the very beginning. Finally, as with all of Hornby's adaptations that we've seen so far, the popular music soundtrack plays a key role, with several well-placed tunes that serve to enhance some scenes and provide an overall good time. It doesn't quite succeed as a romance as much as it should, but it still squeaks by with a win.
The Verdict: B-.
Michael Bentley 1:56 PM
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