Plot: What’s it about?
Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore) thinks she has finally found her true romance, a school teacher named Ben Wrightman (Jimmy Fallon). While Meeks is a high level executive with a busy lifestyle, Ben is more laid back and just tries to have fun. The two have instant sparks and they are soon a couple, the kind of whirlwind romance neither thought was possible…until now. Just when Lindsey wonders if this is all too good to be true, the new baseball season kicks off and she learns that it is. What she didn’t know was that Ben was already involved in a serious relationship, one perhaps no woman could break. Ben is a Boston Red Sox fan and not just a casual one, once the season starts, he devotes his life to the team. Now Lindsey finds herself coming in second, as Ben spends more and more time on Red Sox events. He chooses to visit Spring Training over meeting her parent and while she tries to understand, it isn’t easy. Can she somehow manage to deal with his obsession, or is their once great relationship cursed, just like the Red Sox?
This is yet another remake, one more time that a solid foreign film needed to be adjusted so that American audiences could understand. Not because of a language barrier, mind you, but instead a sports barrier, as the original Fever Pitch was based on soccer, not baseball. But of course, since soccer isn’t well liked in America, we have to suffer through this piece of hot trash. I understand the Red Sox element, diehard fans who support their team, despite championship drought like no other. The timing was even perfect, as the real life Red Sox broke the curse as Fever Pitch was being shot. But then Jimmy Fallon had to be cast. Fallon sucks so bad in Fever Pitch, he literally ruins the movie. Any positive side to this picture was dulled beyond belief by Fallon’s worthless and totally devoid of humor performance. I seriously wouldn’t recommend Fever Pitch to anyone, even people I hated, but I am simply not that cruel of a person.
Video: How does it look?
Fever Pitch is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. As this is a new release from Fox, of course it looks terrific and then some. The print is almost pristine, so the visuals have a clean, crisp, and well detailed appearance. In fact, detail is so good at times, the image takes on a much deeper texture, quite impressive work indeed. The movie’s vivid color scheme bounds off the screen, with rich and vibrant hues that never drift into errors. I found contrast to be stark and consistent also, with no problems in the least to mention. So another new release and another excellent visual treatment from Fox, as expected.
Audio: How does it sound?
A Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is used here, but the material doesn’t ask much of it beyond the basics. The pop driven music comes through well, with a lot of life and presence that spices up the experience a lot. But the music sometimes overpowers the other elements, though never to an extreme degree, so no worries there. The rest of the elements sound more than solid, but never rise above passable levels. A handful or so scenes have some added presence, but on the whole, the mix is basic and reserved. The material doesn’t need explosive audio however, so the experience is still fine and more than acceptable. The dialogue is crisp and clean throughout, with no signs of trouble in the slightest. This disc also includes Spanish and French language tracks, as well as subtitles in English and Spanish.
Supplements: What are the extras?
As hilarious as their movies can be, the audio commentary tracks by the brothers Farrelly can be downright awful. While this time around there isn’t a constant wave of “we went to school to him” style comments, the track is still quite a bore. The two praise their cast and talk about how hot the females are, just bland stuff that I can’t imagine anyone would choose to listen to. This disc also includes a trio of featurettes, some deleted scenes, an outtakes reel, and the film’s theatrical trailer.
