FEVER PITCH (2005 FILM)

'''Fever Pitch''', which was released as '''The Perfect Catch''' outside of the United States and Canada, is a Farrelly Brothers comedy film. It is a remake of a 1997 British film of the same name, and is loosely based on the Nick Hornby book ''Fever Pitch'', a best-selling memoir in the UK. While both the book and the original 1997 film are about Football (soccer), this version, aimed at the US market, is about baseball. The film opened in theaters on April 8, 2005.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Games

Trivia

Critical reception

Quotes

Notes

External links

Plot

This movie is about a man named Ben Wrightman (Jimmy Fallon) stuck in a "conflict of decision" between two loves-- Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore), and the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

Cast

Actor	Role
Drew Barrymore	Lindsey Meeks
Jimmy Fallon	Ben Wrightman
Jason Spevack	Ben in 1980
Jack Kehler	Al
Scott Severance	Artie
Jessamy Finet	Theresa
Maureen Keiller	Viv
Lenny Clarke	Uncle Carl
Ione Skye	Molly
KaDee Strickland	Robin
Marissa Jaret Winokur	Sarah
Evan Helmuth	Troy
Brandon Craggs	Casey
Brett Murphy	Ryan
Isabella Fink	Audrey

Games

The movie was filmed at many actual Red Sox games.

★ The Opening Day sequence was filmed on September 4 2004 with Stephen King throwing out the first pitch; the Red Sox lost that game, ending a ten-game winning streak and King was blamed for it in the Boston Globe. This game was against the Texas Rangers (Red Sox lost 8-6).

★ Another game filmed for the movie was the September 16, 2004 game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, which Boston won 11-4. The shooting consisted of Drew Barrymore running across the field to where Jimmy Fallon was sitting, near the Red Sox dugout. This was filmed after the game, with about half the crowd staying after to be extras.

★ Footage from a game in Toronto, Canada between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays on October 1, 2004 was shot for the movie. Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon were present at the game and Drew Barrymore was asked to throw the first pitch of the game. It barely made it to the plate.

★ On October 27, 2004, near the end of Game 4 of the 2004 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Red Sox at Busch Stadium, the finale of this film was shot. After the last play of the game in the bottom of the ninth during the Red Sox celebration, stars Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon were filmed also celebrating together on the field. A brief shot of the filming could be seen live on the Fox Sports broadcast. Rewrites by the Farrelly brothers had to be done immediately following the Game 7 clincher of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees to include the historic 2004 Boston Red Sox post-season.

Trivia

★ The original script called for the Red Sox to lose at the end of the movie. The Farrelly Brothers scrambled to change the ending after the Red Sox won the 2004 ALCS and were favored to win the World Series, that would end an 86 year drought.[1] Zap2It.com (accessed October 15, 2005)

★ Several scenes were shot on location at Fenway Park before, during, and after several home games in the 2004 season, and the previously mentioned climatic scene was shot on the field at Busch Stadium, but digitally added in to include footage of the Red Sox celebrating their World Series win.Head, Steve (2004). "Jimmy Fallon Talks ''Fever Pitch''" FilmForce.ign.com (accessed May 6, 2006)

★ Ben has a gigantic replica of Fenway Park's left field wall (a.k.a. "The Green Monster") on the wall of his apartment. In real life and in his apartment, the wall includes a hand-operated scoreboard. The particular game immortalized on Ben's mural is that of Game 3 of the 1999 American League Championship Series, won by the Red Sox over the hated Yankees, 13-1. Before Boston's conquest of New York in 2004 (depicted at the end of the film), the '99 game was one of the most memorable Boston wins in recent memory.

★ Steve Sweeney was originally slated to be the scalper, but had pneumonia. Peter Farrelly then pulled Ken Rogerson, who was just an extra at the time, over and said, "Your part just got bigger."

★ Ben teaches at East Boston High School, which had served as the exterior for Winslow High School in "Boston Public" (2000).

★ The warm-up jacket Drew Barrymore wears in the film became extremely popular among female Red Sox fans the week before its national release, and was sold out in stores all across New England.

★ This film is loosely based on author Nick Hornby's autobiographical account of his fanatical obsession with the English soccer club Arsenal F.C. while growing up, from his book of the same name.

★ The 17 player extras were suited up as the Red Sox and the Devil Rays. The 18th person on the field, Mark Van Savage, is a dead ringer for Johnny Damon and was going to be his body double in the scene. As they were setting up the shot, Damon came out from the dugout, waved to the crowd, and trotted out towards center field. Van Savage shrugged and left by the gate that he and the camera trucks came in by.

★ There is a scene in the trailer in a sports bar when Lindsey says "It's just a game!" and the sports bar immediately goes quiet, until Ben says "She said 'It's a crying shame.'" This scene is not in the movie.

★ During the flashback to the first game that Ben's uncle took him to we see three actual former 1980 Red Sox players playing themselves. Two are very recognizable star players Dennis Eckersley and Jim Rice. The other is Keith Macwhorter who only pitched one season in the Majors.

★ The song heard when Lindsey (Drew Barrymore) jumps onto the field at the end of the film is "Who killed Tangerine" by Tears for Fears. It's said to have become popular as a result of the moive.

Critical reception

The movie has a 63% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatos and a rating of 56 from metacritic. Sportswriter Bill Simmons has been particularly critical of the film, even dedicating one of his columns to criticizing it. Among his complaints: the movie paints a stereotypical and untrue picture of pessimistic Red Sox fans (he claims that few fans believe in the Curse of the Bambino, and that having characters talk about it ruins the film's credibility) and that filming on the field during the post-World Series celebration shows a lack of respect by the directors.

Quotes

★ 'Steve Levy': Where do the Red Sox rank in your life?

★ 'Ben Wrightman': I say Red Sox (makes hand flat and raises to head-level), sex (lowers hand), and breathing (lowers hand more)

★ 'Ben Wrightman': (Gets down on his knees) Lindsey, will you go to Opening Day with me? (Opens case)

★ 'Lindsey Meeks': (Laughs) Yes!

★ 'Ben Wrightman': Oh my gosh, what happened? You look fantastic!

★ 'Theresa': I lost 200 pounds, I had my stomach stapled shut.

★ 'Ben Wrightman': A doctor, or you did it yourself?

Notes

External links

★ Official website

★

★ ''Fever Pitch'' at the Baseball Movie Guide