The Perfect Catch

Ben (Jimmy Fallon) is a teacher and a season ticket holder at the Boston Red Sox, a baseball team that hasn't won the World Series in 84-years. When taking some of his class on an exciting trip to the office of businesswoman Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore), Ben falls in love. Throughout the rest of the season, Ben's love of baseball and love of Lindsey sometimes goes hand in hand and sometimes goes toe to toe.

The Perfect Catch is a remake of Fever Pitch - in fact, its American title is Fever Pitch. Having no desire to watch Arsenal losing the league, I've not seen the original, but have to presume that it does the love story and the sports story better than The Perfect Catch.

Peter and Bobby Farrelly have tried to deliver something different from their usual fare. Unfortunately, what they've come up with isn't a patch on the masterful Kingpin, or even the overrated There's Something About Mary. Different is fine. Substantially worse is not.

There are two types of passion to capture here. Neither really show up at all. Almost any film, or book, about baseball has shown the obsession that some of its fans have, with the history, the statistics, the superstitions, the game. For all the merchandise in his apartment, Ben seems to be not that much more informed than someone who goes to the games. The love doesn't shine through. Furthermore, the story of the real 2004 Red Sox took everyone by surprise and the inherent drama is vastly underused in the film.

Ben and Lindsey's relationship is good and solid. In the real world, the conflicts would either work themselves out, or they wouldn't, and they'd either live happily ever after, or they wouldn't. The grand gestures in the denouement seem out of place. If you want an unrealistic Hollywood ending, you have to have an unrealistic Hollywood relationship leading up to it.

The Perfect Catch could have worked. Baseball lends itself even better to the passionate fan than football does. Fallon goes a long way to capturing the quirks of his character, but is ultimately let down by the script and the direction. Barrymore is given even less to work with, but she's by no means terrible and he supporting cast are nothing more than stock blocks on a stereotypical highway.