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'Fever Pitch': The Red Sox and a love story

By HAP ERSTEIN
Palm Beach Post

Cleverly timed to coincide with the opening weekend of the new baseball season comes Fever Pitch, the story of a hopeless romance between a geeky math teacher obsessed with the Boston Red Sox and a workaholic statistics whiz who has trouble convincing him that the national pastime is, after all, just a game.

20th Century Fox 'Fever Pitch' B+ The verdict: The Farrelly brothers swap their gross-out humor for a sweet romantic comedy and a baseball obsession. 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

As played by childlike Saturday Night Live alumnus Jimmy Fallon and a button-down Drew Barrymore, with a nimble screenplay by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (Robots) that exploits the Sox triumph last fall over the Curse of the Bambino, it makes for a winning combination.

The somewhat sentimental love match is uncharacteristically directed by brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly (There's Something About Mary), whose only signature bodily fluids gags are in an early offscreen barfing sequence for Barrymore. Otherwise, they cling to this valentine to the Red Sox and the team's steadfastly loyal fans, a much-revised adaptation of a novel by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity) about British soccer-mania.

The result is a satisfying date night flick — plenty of inside-baseball chatter for guys and an on-target look at how women dissect their friends' relationships to death that gals will appreciate.

Yankees' rooters probably will not appreciate the replay of their team's pennant collapse, but everyone else should recognize a solid hit down the middle.