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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Lions Gate
Salesrank: 12489
Released: November 28, 2000 |
| Our Price: $7.14 |
| Used Price: $5.96 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Meet paul an english teacher in his mid-thirties: a bachelor: a man with an obsession the arsenal soccer team. Midway through the season paul meets sarah whose propensity for severity dourness and single-minded professionalism remind him of the arsenals manager. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Colin Firth Run time: 102 minutes Rating: R Director: David Evans
Description of Fever Pitch:
Rumpled, amiable Colin Firth plays a rumpled, amiable English teacher named Paul. He's also an obsessive football (soccer to us Americans) fan who's been avidly following the Arsenal team for 18 years. When he falls into a relationship with a new teacher named Sarah (played by Ruth Gemmel), his deep attachment to Arsenal proves an obstacle. This sounds like some cheap men-and-women-don't-understand-each-other setup, but instead Fever Pitch not only explores the origins of Paul's football fandom, it actually communicates an infectious sense of what that kind of sports enthusiasm can mean, how it can provide an almost tribal identity. Even better, the movie takes this devotion seriously without ever losing sight of how it can be completely ridiculous at the same time, resulting in some amazing, funny scenes. Gemmel is charming, and Firth is simply superb. He's a great actor who's never quite fit into conventional leading man roles and so tends to play oddballs and redeemable villains, as in Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, and Apartment Zero. He's a perfect fit for this script, written by Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity and About a Boy) from his novel of the same name. The humor of this movie is all the more engaging because it's grounded in richly developed characters and emotions. Fever Pitch is excellent. Also featuring a hilarious cameo by Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, Guinevere). --Bret Fetzer
Fever Pitch Reviews:
The Book is Better But Hard To Appreciate if You Are Not a Soccer Nut! 
2009-08-10 - 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.
Fever Pitch - Enamored with Arsenal FC 
2007-09-26 - First of all, I have to say up front that I am both a football (aka soccer) fan and an ardent Arsenal supporter, so this film was almost a must see, at least for me. That said, I will state that the film has its share of poignant moments, almost all of them revolving around the central character's obsession with all things Arsenal, and the level to which this frustrates his girlfriend as she attempts to build a meaningful relationship (with Arsenal always in the way). If you have more than a passing interest in football, and you want to get an English perspective on the subject, this is a good film. I would also recommend "Green Street Hooligans", a film that chronicles the adventures of a US college student (Elijah Wood) who moves to London and falls in with a group of football fanatics.
Good- not great
2007-06-13 - I much prefered the book to the movie, and was especially disappointed by Colin Firth (who I normally love in movies!) I found the main character not charming and relatable, though a bit quirky like he was in the book- but completely annoying and a bit crazy. That said, anything with soccer fields in it makes me happy. And I definately prefered this version to the baseball american one.
Horrible cover art for a great film
2007-05-13 - Although the cover art for "Fever Pitch" gives one the impression that the film is some kind of soccer sex comedy, the film is actually a touching and funny account of one man's obsession with an English soccer team and how that obsession can get in the way of real life. Adapted by Nick Hornby from his excellent memoir of the same name, the film has fine performances from an able cast that includes Colin Firth. If you are an English soccer fanatic like me, the film is a must see. An American remake was made later that uses baseball as the obsession rather than soccer, but who cares?
Fever Pitch Supreme 
2006-08-29 - 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
