Released 2005
Stars Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon
Directed by Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly

Fever Pitch is the meet cute/fall in love/break up/happily ever after story of Lindsey (Barrymore) and Ben (Fallon). (Did you expect the movie to take some other path?) Their first encounter occurs when Ben, a math teacher, brings a group of select students to meet Lindsey, a high-profile executive who does something with numbers (her exact job description is left vague). Ben is attracted to her, and timorously asks her out, only to be rebuffed. Afterwards, Lindsey realizes that she may have made a mistake. Ben isn't like her past boyfriends, but that could be a good thing. Maybe what she needs is a nice guy, not someone driven by corporate ambition. So she calls him back and tells him she has changed her mind. For most of the winter, the blossoming relationship moves along smoothly, but, come March, Lindsey discovers that she has a rival for Ben's affections - Spring Training. Ben isn't just a Boston Red Sox fan, he is a Rabid Red Sox Follower. Suddenly, Lindsey finds herself planning events and trips around Red Sox home games, and begins to wonder whether Ben values the team more than her.

Summary by James Berardinelli

This is the right way to do a romantic comedy. Give the guys a sports story we can be interested in and give the gals a relationship to follow. It was an unbelievable stroke of luck that they adapted Hornby's book to the Red Sox in 2004. It gives the movie a special magic and completely changes its tone, because you know the long suffering fans will finally be rewarded. The relationship is fine and doesn't get in the way too much of the sports story. I liked how there weren't a string of obstacles for the couple to overcome. They had the one obligatory breakup that was a little annoying. The worst part about the breakup was Linsey running across the field to stop Ben from selling his tickets. I thought that was unnecessary and interrupted the reality of the baseball in the film. It would have been fine if a fan had actually done it, but otherwise it was just silly. As far as the comedy was concerned, I laughed many times. Several jokes were so obvious I was thinking or saying the punch lines out loud, but it flowed nicely without being forced. I have to say I was disappointed with the ending, though. I know they had to rewrite the ending because the completely unexpected happened, but they didn't take the time or spend the money to do it right because the ending is just too rushed. I know movies are a business, but they're also art. Art that lasts as long as a team winning the World Series -- forever. --Bill Alward, September 25, 2005