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'Fever Pitch': Cute romantic comedy gets the job done

KATHY BLACKWELL
Austin American-Statesman

'Fever Pitch" already had one strike against it, dating back to that night in October.

Thousands of Sox fans — me included — were extremely annoyed to see stars Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore kissing on the field minutes after the Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series. I, after all, was the one who had just watched more than 80 Red Sox games during the season with my obsessed husband. I was the one wearing the official Johnny Damon home jersey. Drew didn't deserve to be on that field.

20th Century Fox 'Fever Pitch' Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly Starring: Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon Run time: 98 minutes Release date: April 8, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and some sensuality. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Fever Pitch"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

But as it turned out, Barrymore, Fallon and directors Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly ("There's Something About Mary," "Dumb and Dumber") were engaging in some guerrilla filmmaking, shooting live scenes to change the ending of their new movie, "Fever Pitch."

Hmmm. I love baseball, I've loved Boston since meeting my Sox soulmate, and I used to love Jimmy Fallon before he started ruining every "Saturday Night Live" skit with his giggling outbursts. I'm also a big fan of "Fever Pitch" author Nick Hornby -- the movie version of his book "High Fidelity" is on my Top 5 list.

As any self-respecting Bridget Jones fan would know, a movie adaption of "Fever Pitch" was made several years ago, starring Mr. Darcy himself, Colin Firth. The only real similarity between the Farrelly brothers' film and Hornby's autobiography is the classic love triangle between a boy, a girl and sports. I was skeptical.

However, as soon as I heard the refrain of "Dirty Water" by the Standells — the Boston Red Sox theme song — I quickly settled in as if I were sitting in Fenway Park, surrounded by fellow fans and basking in the glow of a championship that still doesn't seem quite real. I would not be ordering hot dogs, though, because we're talking about the Farrelly brothers, kings of the gross-out comedies.

The Farrelly siblings managed to restrain themselves in telling the story of Ben Wrightman (Fallon), a grade-school teacher unlucky in love because of his Sox obsession, and Lindsey Meeks (Barrymore) a business consultant whose workaholic ways have kept her in the singles column. There's a vomiting scene, a handful of sophomoric jokes and, of course, Lindsey owns a dog. But that's about it.

Instead, what we end up with is a romantic comedy that's a little edgier than most, that doesn't take itself too seriously and is rounded out by a slew of interesting minor characters: Lindsey's friends, Ben's pals and his "family" of fellow season ticket holders in the box near the Red Sox dugout (he inherited his seats, and his love of the game, from his Uncle Carl).

"Fever Pitch" is funny because it doesn't fall back on the easy laughs — there's no mocking of the Boston accent, for instance. Except for the ending, there are no predictable set-ups. Instead, we see Ben making his friends dance for his extra tickets and Lindsey finding out the hard way that you shouldn't bring a laptop to a baseball game.

There are also many highlights from last year's season — thanks to the, um, four highlights DVDs we own, they're like old friends, but I never tire of seeing them. (However, I am tired of hearing Nick Drake songs in romantic comedies — is nothing sacred?)

Fallon plays Ben with surprising texture — something the one-dimensional script lacks. He mumbles, he charms and he pulls off being an obsessive fan without overdoing it. It's completely believable that a woman would rearrange her life around his baseball schedule.

What's not believable is that Ben would let Lindsey into Fenway with him. There's more chemistry between Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon on the new Sports Illustrated cover than there is between Barrymore and Fallon. Her comedic timing is off for the most part, and she doesn't fill out her character the way Fallon does his.

Fallon's turn as Ben is a little reminiscent of John Cusack's starring role in "High Fidelity." So maybe that's why when I saw Cusack's "Say Anything" love interest, Ione Skye, appear as one of Lindsey's friends, I immediately thought, "Ione! She should have been Lindsey."

Ahh, should-have-beens. They've been part of the Red Sox history for so long, and "Fever Pitch" nicely weaves this painful past into a love story about sacrifice and sacrifice flies, about singles and doubles.

So what if it's cursed the Red Sox for another 86 years? (Don't tell my husband I said that).