Cast: Colin Firth, Ruth Gemmell, Mark Strong, Holly Aird, Ken Stott
Director: David Evans
Producer: Amanda Posey
Screenplay: Nick Hornby, based on his book
Cinematography: Chris Seager
Music: Boo Hewerdine, Neil MacColl
U.S. Distributor: Phaedra Cinema
British romantic comedies tend to be a different breed from those that emerge from Hollywood. To begin with, they aren't made with the big budget mentality that afflicts their American counterparts, so there's often a grittier, more down-to-Earth look and feel. And the obsession for an improbable happy ending is not evident. Sure, the British appreciate a crowd-pleasing resolution, but they don't demand a minefield of contrivances to get there (Notting Hill is the exception, but that was a U.S./U.K. hybrid). One of my favorite British entries into this genre is a small 1989 feature called Getting It Right, about a young man who stumbles his way through a series of misadventures until he finally connects with the right woman. David Evans' feature debut, Fever Pitch, has the same kind of genial, unforced appeal (although the material is different). And, like Getting It Right, it is driven by characters, not plot.
Most men love sports - some more than others. This leads to the girlfriend's (or wife's) lament: that her significant other cares more about the game than he does about her. It doesn't really matter what the sport is - it can be baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, football (the American kind), soccer (which is called football everywhere except in America), or caber turning. Some men take their sports very seriously. Interrupt them during a game at your own risk. If their team loses, they are miserable for days afterwards. If it wins, they are euphoric. Others are more level-headed. To them, games are an ephemeral diversion. A win is more enjoyable than a loss, but, five minutes after the final score has been determined, it is basically forgotten.
Paul Ashworth (Colin Firth) is definitely not one of these "even keel" type fans. He lives and dies with every goal scored by his favorite football/soccer team, Arsenal. Fever Pitch takes place during 1989, the year Arsenal had its first legitimate chance to win the championship in 18 years. Based on Nick Hornby's autobiographical book, the film takes great pains to get all of the game details correct, even relying on archival footage of various matches for the television coverage. The focus on the fan rather than on a player is an unusual approach for a movie with such a strong sports element. Most motion pictures of this sort like to show the triumph of a big victory through the eyes of a participant, not a spectator.
Paul has been an Arsenal fan since the late 1960s, when his absentee father introduced him to the game as a potential means of bonding. Paul didn't have much use for his father, but soccer became an instant obsession. 20 years later, it is the one thing in his life that has not changed. A teacher at a local school, Paul is better known for his sports fanaticism than for his academic credentials, and his favorite part of the job is coaching the school soccer team. He owns a season ticket to the Arsenal home games and watches the away matches with his best mate, another die-hard fan. During the season, soccer is his life. Outside of it, he finds things boring. Then he meets Sarah (Ruth Gemmell).
Sarah is the school's new teacher, a by-the-book woman who has little time for soccer and less for the "yobs" who spend their hours watching it. Inexplicably, however, she is drawn to Paul, and, on a night when he offers her a ride home, they don't part until after dawn. Their relationship evolves from there, and, while it's clear that Paul cares for Sarah, she constantly feels that she's competing with Arsenal for his feelings. At one point, she tries the "if you can't beat them, join them" philosophy of learning what she can about the sport and even going to a match, but it doesn't work, and she becomes increasingly frustrated with Paul's inattentiveness and often juvenile attitude. For his part, Paul wants to share his life with Sarah, but he can't give up on Arsenal, his constant companion for two decades.
The characters are well drawn and nicely developed. Paul is all-too-real. Most of us either know or are someone like him. At times, he's an absolute delight, but, in and around match-time, he becomes a different person. Colin Firth, who played this role in the wake of his hugely popular turn as Mr. Darcy in Simon Langton's Pride and Prejudice, shows his range here. There's not a trace of pre-Victorian starch in the actor's linen. Ruth Gemmell is delightful as Sarah. Not only is she pretty, but she has a good handle on the part of someone who wants more commitment from a relationship than she's getting. (At one point, Paul argues that he can commit - his faithfulness to Arsenal for 20 years proves it.) Supporting cast members include Ken Stott (Plunkett and Macleane) as a high school administrator, Mark Strong (Mr. Knightley in the TV miniseries version of Emma) as Paul's soccer buddy, Holly Aird as Sarah's roommate, and, in a small role, Stephen Rea.
Most romantic comedies follow a simple formula: the characters meet, engage in some social foreplay, fall in love, break up or drift apart as a result of complications, then get back together for the happy ending. Fundamentally, Fever Pitch doesn't divert from this recipe, but there are a few differences. The foreplay stage is unexpectedly short - Paul and Sarah are sleeping together twenty minutes into the film. And the romantic complications are low key and entirely believable. They don't involve another man or woman; Sarah's rival for Paul's love is Arsenal. This aspect of the production, in addition to a number of small, deft touches introduced by Evans, distinguishes Fever Pitch as a cut above the generic sports movie or romantic comedy.
© 1999 James Berardinelli