Review: Fever Pitch (2005)

Starring Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore, several actors who look vaguely familiar, and Johnny Damon. I am probably one of about seven people who look at that list and go "I bet that'll be good!"

I write this review as a Red Sox fan. I make no apologies for this, and here's why: upon checking the IMDB boards about this movie, I discovered a number of Yankees fans griping about the film, which they have not seen yet and have no plans to see it anytime in the future. The overall feeling you get from the post is that of sour grapes - you guys already won the series, how come you get to have this romantic comedy about it, too? That's right, the Yankees fans are jealous. They're jealous 'cause we have it all.

Amazing how the tables turn, eh? When was the last time that you saw a romantic comedy that didn't take place in New York? They all do. They all feature opening sequences of helicopter shots of Manhattan with some cheerful Harry Connick Jr. song playing while the main titles flash by. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail. Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman in While You Were Sleeping. Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver. The list goes on.

Fever Pitch starts out with scenic shots of Beantown, but instead of some wandering Randy Newman song, it's "Dirty Water" by the Standells. "I'm gonna tell you a big, bad story, baby," croons Dick Dodd with lecherous vocals. "Aw, it's all about my town." And it is. The Farrelly brothers (Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary, Stuck on You, etc.), grew up as Red Sox fans, and Fever Pitch is as much a sappy Valentine to Sox fans as it is a romantic comedy. It features cameos by Jim Rice, Dennis Eckerseley, Jason Varitek, Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, etc. It even features Jessamy Finet, one of the fans from last year's Still We Believe Red Sox documentary as one of Fallon's Fenway family. Barrymore and Fallon join in as all the fans sing along to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." There's even the Dropkick Murphy's anthem "Tessie," their cover of an old Broadway tune that helped rally the 1903 Boston Pilgrims, and became a rallying cry for Red Sox Nation. It seems a bit of fitting, post-championship exuberance, a celebration of all things Red Sox.

And at the center of it is Fallon, surprisingly solid in his first real major studio release (let's all ignore Taxi, shall we?). The story goes like this: Fallon, an obsessed Red Sox fan, has a pair of season-tickets, just behind the Red Sox dugout, bequeathed to him by his late uncle. He's attended every home game in that seat for the past eleven years. He has a framed print of Tony Conigliaro that he crosses himself in front of every morning. Nothing comes between him and his Red Sox. And then one day, he meets Barrymore, successful, driven executive who has no idea what she's getting into.

I'll leave it there, so I won't ruin whatever suprise the ending might have for you - it's a romantic comedy, after all - but I will say this: if you have any love for the Red Sox at all, go see this movie. It's everything you love about Boston, the Red Sox, being a Sox fan, and beating the Yankees, all rolled up into one beautiful hour and half love story. And then there's that other love story that's going on, too.

Critics will rip this movie to pieces - after all, half of them live in New York, and the other half pretend they do. Let them. They hate this movie for reasons they cannot understand, because this movie perfectly encapsulates that sense of wonder that Red Sox Nation feels. They'll rip into Fallon and Barrymore's performances, they'll rant about how the Farrelly brothers have lost their touch (because of course, they were such fans back when they were making Dumb and Dumber), they'll call it mediocre and predictable and trite and unfunny. And it's all because for once - they want what we've got. Doesn't it feel good?

Rating: Separating myself from my Sox affections, the film's a better-than-average romantic comedy - but not much better. It gets to take the advanced math classes but it cheats off the girl who sits in front. It's not the Farrelly brother's best piece of work, but it's their deepest. I mean, name one earlier Farrelly work that has character development. I thought so.

Updates

My apologies on my lack of posting in recent days. I see no need to make excuses, so I'll avoid going on about my busy-ness of schedule, I'm sure you are all in similar straits. Instead, I'll promise that some shiny new posts will be added soon enough, some of them quite controversial - it's possible I'll be defending nudity, gay marriage, and R-rated movies. You won't want to miss a moment. In addition, they'll be a review of From Justin to Kelly, which, just as a point of reference, leaves Ned Kelly far in its wake in terms of being an example of how bad a movie can be.

Also, my brother finally posted to Wyman Family History with the most embarassing picture of me he could find. Bravo, and I supposed I asked for it.

New Additions

I just added Ney's photo site to the sidebar - there's not much description or background on each of the pictures, but her pictures are fantastic. I hope to be someday be as good a cinematographer as she is a photographer.

I also added Spamusement, and Exploding Dog, just to prove that I'm emo. Or I used to be. Back when everyone used to argue about what "real" emo was, and diss Dashboard Confessional. Ah, to be young and cynical again. Exploding Dog is a site where overly-emotional teens send sentences or phrases to her like "everyone you know will someday die" or "why can't life be better" and the guy who runs the site draws a picture on his computer to illustrate the feeling. Most of the time, it's pretty banal, but sometimes he manages to encapsulate perfectly the feeling of the words. It skirts the fine line between art and cheap therapy for teen angst, but either way it's one of those clever and original ideas that gets to be incredibly hip for a couple of months until it becomes, "that site everyone used to be really into last year." My new favorite is "rocks are only temporary."

Here's a good example: "I like it when you lie."

The serious and the useless

I posted earlier this week about the Grammys, society's overemphasis on experiences, and things that I want to accomplish before I die, but Blogger ate the post, so I'll instead make a big post with a lot of links to keep you all amused:

  • I got the Asbury Initiative Grant, and I'm going to Romania this summer! I'll be working at the same place that my brothers are from. You can ask me all about it, or check out the organization that I'll be working with this summer.
  • Speaking of missions work, Tim King, who was one of my best friends growing up, is doing amazing things with the homeless in Chicago. He's a Covenanter, like me, and the Covenant Church has an article about him. He ended up getting about 200 students for the event the article is talking about, which is amazing. He's really passionate about what he's doing, and Phil Collins just gave a bunch of money to the ministry he set up. You can keep the work he's doing in prayer.
  • Cassi sent me this one. It's an article from the Lexington Herald where they decide to experience Valentine's Day in Paris - they attend a Paris, Kentucky middle school Valentine's Day party. It's a bit precocious but a fun idea. I looked online and didn't find any of those "Love is like a roller-coaster. When it's over you want to throw up" shirts, so if you find any, I'm a size small or a medium and my birthday is whenever it needs to be.
  • Jonathan sent me Googlefight, which lets you compare yourself to other people to see who shows up more times if you search for both people's names. Apparently it's difficult enough doing it by hand that someone had to create a program to search the search engine for you. The worst is that I don't think it's the only program of its type out there. I lost to my brother, my dad, and Paris Hilton, but I did manage to beat my roommate, which is exciting. However, every single name that appeared on the actual Google search was actually him, which is pretty cool.
  • And lastly, Peracchio showed me and Squirrel Spamusement, which is a website on which the creator takes the subject line of all the spam that he gets and draws a picture to represent it, without taking into account the e-mail's actual content. I'll show you some of my favorites: