Fever Pitch

Flat

In almost every regard, Fever Pitch is flat. The characters, comedy and romance are complete duds, entirely in contrast with the excitement-promising title. Perhaps fans of professional sports will disagree, but I have trouble believing that so many emotional conflicts can be resolved by winning the big game. Maybe the people on the field can experience this kind of epiphany, but for the folks in the stands or at home in front of the television, I think it's a stretch.

Even at the writing level, neither of the leading characters is of significant interest. The poor attempts at establishing the male's background rubbed me entirely wrong. The scenes between Paul and his parents had awful dialogue that hardly captured the emotional tension that should've been present. I was especially appalled that Paul's mother and sister found Arsenal to be as good a distraction as Paul. Perhaps most annoying to me, I couldn't see why Sarah was attracted to a guy I can only describe as a shambling oaf. As played by Colin Firth, Paul is a stunningly boring person. There wasn't an interesting supporting character in the bunch, which meant there was no relief from the tedium of Paul and Sarah.

The screenplay was adapted by Nick Hornby from his own novel. Contrasting Fever Pitch against the quality of High Fidelity, I'm thinking Hornby may not the best choice for bringing his books to the screen.