I’m not a Jimmy Fallon fan. I didn’t think he was funny on SNL and I certainly never brought into the PR that he was SNL’s first sex symbol. TAXI was a disaster for movie audiences but apparently did not affect Fallon’s career. Fallon is impervious to failure. Who is his agent? No, better yet, what does he know about the Kennedy assassination?

I used to think Ben Stiller was the new Billy Crystal, but now Jimmy Fallon is the new Ben Stiller (but hopefully without the compulsive drive to be in every movie made).

I do not know anyone who is an obsessed sports fan. I do not know who the Red Sox are. Should I be reviewing FEVER PITCH? Has FEVER PITCH made me understand the beauty of the game and the reason behind the devotion lavished on baseball? After seeing FEVER PITCH, would I sell my firstborn for season tickets?

A few years ago my husband and I were guests of one of the principal owners of the Baltimore Orioles. We watched a game at Camden Yard from the owner’s box along with an impressively small guest list that included a senator and a governor. It was quite a festive night. Our friend brought me to my seat and, motioning to the baseball field below, said: “What do you think of my train set?”

FEVER PITCH is another critic-proof sports movie. I have read that there are millions of Red Sox fanatics among our nation’s baseball disciples. This is a movie celebrating their passion and honoring their cult.

Or is it?

A lovely Drew Barrymore plays Lindsey, a very high-powered success story. However, at 30, she is without a boyfriend and there are no proper prospects. Lindsey is consumed with her job. She relies on her laptop and cell phone. Along comes Ben (Jimmy Fallon) a school teacher with the heart of an 11 year old boy. His passion, his reason for living, his world peace movement, is the Red Sox. He inherited season tickets from his saintly Uncle Carl. He lives in RedSoxLand. His entire wardrobe is Red Sox stadium-wear. His home is a shrine to The Red Sox. His friends know more about the Red Sox legacy than they do about their own lives. Lindsey and Ben start dating. She’s driven, he’s a puppy.

I never heard of the Curse of the Bambino until FEVER PITCH. I know you know that the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919 and after that blunder never won another World Series. Well, having the Farrelly Brothers making a movie about the Red Sox burned the witch.

Ben’s life is in a holding pattern until spring training begins. Ben and his buddies plan every moment of their lives around the games. His buddies must negotiate with Ben for the honor of going to games with him. But once Ben meets Lindsey, she is next to him at all the games. Her career is suffering and she doesn’t particularly like baseball.

At the games we meet Ben’s like-minded “people.” You wouldn’t want any of your relatives, even the ones you hate, to mate with these people. You don’t want to be a fan because you don’t meet people you want to sleep with. Strike one.

There are no perks being an authority on the Red Sox. You would think that being a baseball scholar would mean something, but Ben is just a sweet man-child with a sex-safe hobby. Strike two.

One of my favorite films is ABOUT A BOY adapted from a book by Nick Hornby. FEVER PITCH is adapted from another semi-autobiographical novel by Hornby. The directors, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandell traded Horby’s soccer obsession for baseball. London became Chicago.

Barrymore looks fabulous but the role of Lindsey is trite and formulaic. Remember how uniquely charming Cameron Diaz was in the great Farrelly Brothers comedy THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY”? And those wonderfully special supporting characters? I still love that character Tucker (Lee Evans). The Farrelly Brothers with their co-writers Ed Dexter and John J. Strauss paid attention to all their characters. In FEVER PITCH, the supporting characters are just window dressing. I understand that Julia Roberts’s position as Romantic Comedy’s Leading Lady is presently up for grabs, but Barrymore needs to address her already standardized dialogue delivery and start giving her roles dimensionality. Get an acting coach!

Because lousy acting will not affect Fallon’s career, my advice is that he should study Tom Hanks’s early romantic comedies. Hanks always showed a little hard edge – a spark of defiance. Fallon’s manufactured slacker-cute boy persona does not cross over as a leading man. Fallon would do much better to seek out small supporting roles in dramas where his sharp features would best serve a complex character. There is pain rattling around there. Lauren Bacall’s blunt assessment might well apply to Fallon: “Actors today go into TV, which I don't consider has a lot to do with acting. They only think of stardom. If you photograph well, that's enough.”

Guess what? Lindsey and Ben end up together. Strike three.

by Victoria Alexander - FilmsInReview.com