Fever Pitch (1997)

Too much of everything

Masterful Movie

Best movie of this year hands down!

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

I didn't care for the main character's personality. He's the type of guy I would never waste my time on. Being a big sports fan is one thing; being completely obsessed is another. It's hard to root for a man who seems to care more about a sport's team than he does about the people who love him. I feel the main female could have done better in choosing a man. At least the guy in the American version was sort of likable. I wish the ending would have actually worked out the problems the couple was having, and it didn't really. It just basically leads you to believe everything turns out okay. Exempting the main guy, the other characters had okay personalities. The movie was fairly entertaining. I don't regret watching it, but I probably will not watch it again.

I like Nick Hornby from About a Boy, though I didn't quite enjoy An Education but being a Gooner, I decided to get a glimpse at this movie– the result wasn't live up to what I was hope for.Most people here called it "the best football movie ever made" – I wouldn't disagree with them but for me, I rather find it so-so. Maybe with all the hype it got me too much hope. Or maybe seeing this movie after 14 years of it release isn't quite doing the trick. Anyway let talk about movie… The movie itself is quite slow but it compensate with great essence of football, the fan – the crowd – the spirit is all there throughout the whole film. But the romantic part wasn't what was I hope for. I somehow find it a bit too boring.The casting and acting was probably the best part of this movie and it work great, but that doesn't help the movie. The set was boring but you still the glimpse of the old Highbury and that can bring back memories. Having a little knowledge of 80' and Arsenal legend would help you understand great deal.Anyway I can't really recommend this movie to everyone since it is heavily base on the love for this game. If you want to see it, there quite a lot of things one need to know about this game and its fan.Rating: 5.5/10 (Grade: C)

Teacher Paul is an obsessive football supporter, his love of Arsenal F.C. knows no bounds. Sarah, who teaches at the same school as Paul, has very little in common with Paul. Inevitably they fall for each other, and inevitably Paul's love of The Arsenal starts to drive them apart.Nick Hornby is a very popular British writer who's other notable works comprise High Fidelity and About A Boy. With Fever Pitch he documented about the triumphant football season that Arsenal had in 1988/1989, while simultaneously outlaying his own stress inducing personal life that ran parallel with his football passion. In the novel, which became a monster seller, Hornby was able to perfectly form just how passionate and ridiculous the hardened football supporter can be {I've been there and done that myself thank you very much}, and tho some of it is expectedly lost in translation to the screen, the core essence is all there to make it a winning adaptation.Tho laced with truly funny sequences and English soccer in jokes, Fever Pitch is also a most tender and heartfelt piece. Parential problems are handled tidily by director David Evans, and crucially the female axis in this male dominated story is very well portrayed. Both Hornby and Evans do however owe a big debt of gratitude to its leading stars. Colin Firth {Paul} and Ruth Gemmell {Sarah} are wonderful, both understated and both providing an intimacy that at first didn't seem possible. Coming as it does in this particular season, the film encompasses the Hillsborough tragedy that left 96 football supporters tragically killed. This is expertly handled by all involved, with Firth particularly towering whilst acting from an armchair as he comes to terms with both the events on the TV screen, and his query laden girlfriend. Which leaves us with what exactly? Well it's a very British film, and it was no surprise to see it remade as an American piece in 2005. Funny and tender probably best sums up this 1997 film, obviously not as good as the book they say, but it's a mighty fine effort regardless. 7/10

I am a middle-aged American woman who has never seen a soccer game and has never seen any kind of live sports game all the way through beyond Little League (3 brothers, 1 son). I live in a town where football is the main local religion. Nick Hornby's novel was a delight to read and really gave me some sense of the psychology as well as the anthropology of being a fan. I rented the movie because I wanted to SEE the novel: the stadium, the terraces, the colors, the craziness Hornby describes. Youtube and Wikipedia could tell me some about Alan Smith, Highbury, the Hillsborough tragedy, but not enough. The movie came through. Actual footage of games and scenes inside the stadium gave a powerful sense of what it's all about. The final sequence, in which various characters Paul's fandom has touched watch a championship game, was wonderfully moving. The plot has three characters--Paul the young fan, Paul the adult fan, and Sarah the outsider who is repelled by the irrationality, the loud and sweary masculinity of it all. The plot exists to allow Paul to expose, stubbornly as a child and articulately as an adult, what it means to be a fan. Sarah is there to force him into talking and thinking a bit about it. Both Pauls are marvelous. Colin Firth is amazing. His physical attractiveness is essential to the plot--it gets him into Sarah's bed so they can start talking about Arsenal-- and that simple fact leaves him huge amounts of room to be boyish, goofy, moody, clueless, innocent, and cruel.