World Cup Picks: Fever Pitch

Let's get this out in the open--this is nota great movie.  In fact, its a pretty frustrating one because it has some potential to go in all kinds of interesting directions and it only ever nods towards those directions on its way to an ultimately disappointing ending.  It's still probably better than the baseball-themed American remake with Jimmy Fallon.

Let's also be clear, nothing at all like what you see in this re-imagined DVD cover happens in the movie.  Fever Pitch is a romantic comedy but it is not full of girls dangling soccer cleats in front of their cleavage.  I am pretty sure that's not Colin Firth on the cover either, because if you had Colin Firth on your DVD cover, wouldn't you show his face?  This DVD box art was made to help sell a soccer-themed movie from the UK to a non-soccer-loving audience in the USA.  Way to go, art department!

Fever Pitchis about an obsessive Arsenal fan (Firth) who can't really commit to a relationship because it interferes with his team's match schedule.  This story (from writer Nick Hornby) has so much potential to be creepy and sad and there are many points in the film where Firth's character comes off as utterly pathetic, but the movie wants to give Firth a reasonable ending.  It should have ended with Firth digging himself further and further into a mindless soccer stupor as his love interest got smart and walked out.  It nearly does.  Still, there are some pretty good moments and the movie is an all-too-honest look at football fandom taken to one of its many absurd extremes.