Fever Pitch

FEVER PITCH

by Jane Louise Boursaw

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and some sensuality. Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly. 98 minutes. Released in theaters April 8, 2005.

This is the perfect date movie, because it has something for both men (sports) and women (romance). But neither overshadows the other. It’s the ideal blend, enough to satisfy both sexes.

The always adorable Drew Barrymore plays Lindsey Meeks, a high-powered career girl intent on getting a promotion. But she’s 30-ish and thinking it might be time to settle down. Then she meets Ben Wrightman, a high school teacher who’s a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. And not just any fan either. His apartment looks like a Red Sox museum, right down to a baseball mitt telephone.

For Ben, the Sox fill a void created by a lonely childhood that left him without a father and moving to a new city with his mom – until his uncle took him to a Red Sox game.

Back to present-day. After a disastrous first date where Ben ends up wiping Lindsey’s food-poisoned vomit off her bathroom floor, the two strike up a relationship that seems promising. Until spring arrives, that is, when Ben shirks meeting her parents so he can partake in a long-standing tradition of spring training in Florida with his equally-obsessed buddies. You see, there are two Bens: Winter Guy (funny, considerate and sexy) and Summer Guy (the aforementioned Sox nut).

Will Ben come to his senses? Will Lindsey ever understand his Sox-mania? You’ll have to see the movie to find out, but let’s just say that true love really does conquer all.

THE WRAP-UP: This is a sweet movie and a new twist on the romantic comedy. Fallon is the perfect “man-boy,” exuding a childlike enthusiasm that radiates into his high school math class. The toned and trim Barrymore is believable as she tries to understand Ben’s obsession and figure out whether they can make it work. A funny group of friends rounds out the cast.

SCORE: 4 out of 4 Reels.