FEVER PITCH

Director: Farelly Bros. (There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber)
Starring: Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore

A moderately cute and enjoyable romantic comedy, this film will win no awards, but neither did it offend. Jimmy Fallon plays a baseball-addicted everyman to Drew Barrymore's high-falutin', too-busy-for-men corporate exec. You probably don't need to be told that he sweeps her off of her feet, and she eventually comes to respect his obsession with the Boston Red Sox. It's an interesting story, following the real season of the Red Sox in 2004 (in which they won the World Series for the first time in nearly 90 years) as a metaphor for their own relationship. I especially like the feel of the production. There is a real life aspect to the camera work, direction and story. It's hurky-jerky in a way that comes across as true (rather than incompetent). Unfortunately, there were a few absurd moments that truly disappointed me. The two lovers first meeting comes to mind. I won't go into the description, except to say that I found it utterly false from a character standpoint. It was so false that it actually creeped me out. Luckily, there's enough good in this film to compensate for the bad.

Standouts: The quirky storyline and direction.
Blowouts: When the script went bad.

Grade: B-