Search - Fever Pitch on DVD

Fever Pitch Supreme

English Lady | Washington DC | 08/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a funny and touching movie at times. I saw the American re-hash of it but it didn't traslate as well to baseball. As this is Nick Hornby's autobiography how could it. He's English and an Arsenal fan. It's a shame this movie will not be seen in the States. Whoever made the decision to change it to an American version did a gross mis-service to this film. I have found American audiences to be very receptive to British movies"

The Book is Better But Hard To Appreciate if You Are Not a S

Frederick Baptist | Singapore | 08/10/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Full disclosure: I've been an Arsenal fan since 1979 and I remember just like the cliched JFK moment exactly what I was doing when my team pulled the equivalent of a sporting miracle by defeating the then mighty Liverpool at their home ground in 1989 to win the title. I doubt very much that I'd even care to watch this film adaptation of Nick Hornby's book if I wasn't already a fan although having watched this dvd with a non-fan recently I can understand why she thought this was pretty boring. Interestingly enough the screenplay was also written by Hornby himself and I think even he couldn't do much to save this film that would leave you in snores if you don't fit the right audience profile as described above. Hornby even picked the songs for the soundtrack which is pretty decent but otherwise the acting is pretty wooden and uninspired. I liked the way Hornby tried to explain why the protagonist behaves the way he does as an "adult" linking it to his emotional trauma at having an absent father being brought up by his mother and hence filling the gaping wound in his heart by loving Arsenal as deeply as he imagined he would have done a dad if he truly had one. His constant horrible fear of and expectation of being let down at the very end by the team mirrors the insecurity he's acquired as a child; if he couldn't trust his own father not to betray him he is constantly paranoid about his beloved Arsenal doing the same thing to him.

Happily, with the help of his love interest and Arsenal's finally winning the title after 18 years he eventually allows himself to trust others again and hence to move on to a less maniacical emotional attachment where happiness for him is not dependent upon the team's successes. Great screenplay but unfortunately the rest of what makes a film great is missing here and so unless you are a fan of the team this will be hard to sit all the way through. The sound quality is okay and is available in Dolby 5.1 Surround sound although the picture quality barely rises above VHS quality and the volume for the soundtrack of the songs is for some reason a lot louder than for the vocal track which is irritating as you almost feel you have to rush to reduce the volume the moment a song is played.

In summary, only for the die-hard fan."