Fever Pitch unlike Farrellys' previous 'wacky' comedies

April 25, 2005 —

If you're familiar with the Farrelly brothers, you probably took one look at Fever Pitch and said, "That doesn't look like a Farrelly brothers movie."

Or if you're like me, you didn't even realize that Fever Pitch was a Farrelly brothers movie. But it is.

The connection of Fever Pitch to Bobby and Peter Farrelly is so unlikely because the movie is nothing like anything the Farrellys have done before.

Known for their wacky, often gross humor in films like There's Something About Mary and Stuck on You, the brothers have never attempted anything so light. Sure, Shallow Hal had a good moral story, but it was still a Farrelly movie in all shapes and sizes.

Fever Pitch lacks everything that made previous Farrelly projects so appealing.

The stylistic comedy of Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller (among many others) is replaced here with the awkward goofiness of Jimmy Fallon; gross-out gags and gut-busting scenes are now reduced to cut and paste PG jokes.

Even more bewildering than the lack of oddball humor is the focus on romance.

Sure, previous Farrelly hits have dealt with relationships - but not like this.

Fever Pitch is basically a full-fledged romantic comedy. It might not be the most original movie, even in terms of romantic comedies, but it's not without its charm.

Fallon shares the screen with the always-pleasant Drew Barrymore, and the two are believable together - there's enough chemistry to make watching them sitting at the ballpark enjoyable.

And, as usual in these romantic comedies, their relationship flourishes, flounders, rebounds, and bounces around more than a grounder to Jhonny Peralta.

But what makes Fever Pitch different is that it isn't just a movie about one man's love for a girl; it's also a movie about one man's love of baseball.

Here, the Farrellys are taking advantage of a well-known secret - that a romantic movie should have something that appeals to guys, as well. And believe me, there is no shortage of baseball in this movie.

Besides tracking the lives of Fallon and Barrymore (Ben and Lindsay in the film), Fever Pitch tracks the 2004 championship season of the Boston Red Sox.

Portions of the movie were actually shot during Red Sox games, lending the film some credibility.

In fact, the entire movie is grounded in reality, something quite unexpected from the Farrellys.

Really, the movie's only fault is that the laughs are few.

Fallon seems capable of tackling the big screen, but his humor is tame and sometimes bizarre.

But Fever Pitch doesn't seem to be about the jokes. The focus is on story and character development, and the jokes are included as an afterthought.

Perhaps this is a sign of the Farrelly brothers maturing. After all, they can only live in the shadow of Dumb & Dumber for so long.

With Fever Pitch, the brothers have created a movie with staying power, one that will be around long after the hair gel jokes have lost their edge.

And even though the movie swings for the bleachers with the ball dropping somewhere between second base and center field, it's still a hit.