Amazon.com video review:
Rumpled, amiable Colin Firth plays a rumpled, amiable English teacher
named Paul. He's also an obsessive football (soccer to us
Americans) fan who's been avidly following the Arsenal team for 18
years. When he falls into a relationship with a new teacher named Sarah
(played by Ruth Gemmel), his deep attachment to Arsenal proves an
obstacle. This sounds like some cheap men-and-women-don't-understand-each-other
setup, but instead Fever Pitch not only explores the
origins of Paul's football fandom, it actually communicates an infectious
sense of what that kind of sports enthusiasm can mean, how it can provide
an almost tribal identity. Even better, the movie takes this devotion
seriously without ever losing sight of how it can be completely ridiculous
at the same time, resulting in some amazing, funny scenes. Gemmel is
charming, and Firth is simply superb. He's a great actor who's never quite
fit into conventional leading man roles and so tends to play oddballs and
redeemable villains, as in Shakespeare in Love, The English
Patient, and Apartment Zero. He's a perfect fit for this
script, written by Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity and
About a Boy) from his novel of the same name. The humor of this
movie is all the more engaging because it's grounded in richly developed
characters and emotions. Fever Pitch is excellent. Also featuring a
hilarious cameo by Stephen Rea (The Crying Game,
Guinevere). --Bret Fetzer
