Fever Pitch

UK Release: 4th April 1997

Watched on Recorded TV: Wednesday 9th May 2012

Rating: 15

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Runtime: 1hr 42mins

Tagline: Life gets complicated when you love one woman and worship eleven men

IMDb Plot Synopsis: A romantic comedy about a man, a woman and a football team. Based on Nick Hornby's best selling autobiographical novel, Fever Pitch. English teacher Paul Ashworth believes his long standing obsession with Arsenal serves him well. But then he meets Sarah. Their relationship develops in tandem with Arsenal's roller coaster fortunes in the football league, both leading to a nail biting climax.

My Review: This film surprised me in how sweet and warm it was. I was initially apprehensive as the film is centered around a man’s love for football but there was more to it than that - not only the love story but Colin Firth. The Oscar winning actor brings a bumbling reality to the part and is the shining light in what is a rather oddly structured film. It felt rushed as the relationship between the teachers happens very quickly and Sarah goes from thinking he is a loud football ‘yob’ to being in love with him and carrying his baby in about 5 seconds flat. The chemistry wasn’t really there and I think the film pays more attention to the football and the relationship between Paul and his father rather than the central romance. Sarah is a very flat character with almost no character back story or believable development and you never really get a sense of who she is whereas Paul is almost the opposite as you warm to him almost immediately with flashbacks to his childhood to help give us a clearer picture of him. It’s understandable, I suppose, to emphasise him and his love for football predominantly over anything else but it just didn’t have as much depth as I would have liked. But for a fun, male-friendly feel-good film it does the job!

Score: 7/10