Fever Pitch
You could probably count on one hand the number of times a movie has actually and unintentionally been filmed against the backdrop of a real life historical event and the filmmakers were basically forced by necessity to rewrite the film in order to incorporate said event into officially being part of the story. The most famous example is undoubtedly Medium Cool which saw Robert Forster (in character) get completely caught up in the violence surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention. But a more recent (and lighthearted) example would be this 2005 release which had always intended to make its main character into a die hard Boston Red Sox fan (and by definition, a lovable loser), but then the whole project evolved into something else, a fictional observation of the very real and memorable 2004 miracle season which saw the infamous Curse Of The Bambino finally get broken forevermore as The Sox would actually win their first World Series in 86 years (and several more afterwards). An amazing happening since filming had gone on all through the season (including several on location shoots at Fenway itself) and the film was always scripted to have ended with The Red Sox losing AGAIN but oh well, life goes on. In short, what we have here is a romantic comedy that literally evolves before our eyes into being a full fledged sports comedy (and a funny one at that) which is just as well since so called rom coms generally play themselves off as being completely and utterly unrealistic depictions of the actual relationships that go on between men and women, usually going for the cute moments instead of the normally seen interactions as experienced in real life. It doesn’t help that Drew Barrymore not only served as a producer here, but also played the female lead as well, getting top billing (when she’s not the star) and spending much of her screentime constantly trying to invoke the rom com spirit of things when it’s not really needed. The actual star here is Jimmy Fallon (before going on to have a so so late night talk show career) as the lovable loser of the film, a Boston area schoolteacher whom we are shown in the early scenes of the film started attending Red Sox games religiously as a boy with his boorish uncle, only to inherit those season tickets upon his uncle’s passing. Now as an adult, the yearly arrival of those tickets results in a mad and embarrassing scramble amongst all of his friends as to who gets to be his “guests” and at which games they will get to attend with him (with The Red Sox home games against The Yankees appearing to be of the highest premium). Meanwhile, Barrymore is first shown working at a mundane high rise office job and first meeting Fallon when he brings some of his students along for a field trip to her workplace. He awkwardly asks her out and we are off and running on the standard rom com storyline, complete with Barrymore getting various opinions from her circle of friends (a must have staple with these movies) and the whole thing rapidly starts losing steam early on simply because (with the exception of the opening flashback), there is almost no reference made to Fallon being a Sox fan for the first 20 minutes and it is only when springtime arrives along with those precious season tickets (besides his friends making fools of themselves, Fallon manages to draw admirable looks from Barrymore’s relations for having the connections to be one of those chosen few) does the story go off in a new direction as finally (FINALLY) he makes the big confession to Barrymore who responds with an “okay”, but it’s just not as simple as that. Fallon makes it clear that his love of the local baseball team is going to cause a serious dent in their time together including having him leaving town (and blowing off meeting her parents) with his friends and trekking down to Florida to watch The Red Sox be put through their paces for spring training, not to mention of course all of those games at fabled Fenway Park where he gets to see his “summer family”, the other season ticket holders led by Jack Kehler (the recently passed character actor best known as The Inventor Of Scrabble in Last Boy Scout and as The Dude’s rather odd landlord in Big Lebowski) who also takes on the narration duties here. Barrymore finds it hard to fit in at the games (despite the obvious atmosphere of the large crowds and various vendors hocking their wares), being such a serious, career minded woman currently angling for a promotion at her job that she brings her laptop with her to the stadium and barely pays any attention to what’s going on around her. Can she find a way to deal with having a boyfriend who has a rather innocent obsession with a local sports team?? Fortunately, The Farrelly Brothers (in a lot more toned down mode than their usual bad taste endeavors) as directors here smartly keep their focus on Fallon, doing the overgrown manchild routine but also gratefully underplaying his wisecracks and overall sense of humor, portraying a guy who almost always appears constantly preoccupied regardless of his current situation because he’s seemingly planning his next Red Sox related outing. Admittedly, the situation that causes the main conflict between him and Barrymore is derived strictly out of his own selfishness and possible obsessive compulsive directives towards the team while Barrymore has herself put over more here as a mistreated waif, a good hearted girlfriend who kindly understood his intense interests but finds herself getting burned for it emotionally, even going so far as to have at least a flirtation with one of her co workers in order to show Fallon that he has taken things too much in the wrong direction. And most of that would be all well and good if it wasn’t for the fact that after 86 years, The Red Sox were suddenly showing legitimate signs of life (and in real life too), effectively shifting the entire momentum of the story into proving that this lovable loser has actually been right all along in keeping the faith the way that he has and sending Barrymore’s self righteous fractured girlfriend routine right onto its ear. The climax of course is during the unforgettable Game 4 of the ALCS against The Yankees at Fenway where The Red Sox came back in the ninth inning to win it and never looked back, systematically dismantling The Yankees in 4 straight (an unheard of feat coming back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series) and then crushing The St. Louis Cardinals in 4 straight (also unheard of to win 8 playoff games in a row) to win that coveted World Series, with Barrymore and Fallon even being flown in to St. Louis where they celebrated on the field in character during the history making event. Quite an achievement to change an entire direction of a film from how it was originally intended and certainly a way to elevate this particular film from being an average run of the mill example of its genre to being one of the most uplifting sports movies (and love stories) of all time…
8/10