Andres Salama
Some years ago I read (and liked) the book "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy), which was a collection of autobiographical anecdotes about his long lasting support of Arsenal, from 1968 when he become a fan until 1989, the year the Gunners won the First Division after almost 20 years.The movie decides to eschew the book approach and fictionalizes the story as a sort of romantic comedy in which supposed opposites attract. It's 1989, and Colin Firth is Paul (Hornby's alter ego) a teacher at a school in London, and the movie is about his burgeoning romance with Sarah Hughes (Ruth Gemmell), a new teacher at the school. As their relationship develops, Paul seems sometimes more concerned about Arsenal's standing in the championship and the increasing likelihood that it will finally win the league. This to the dismay of Sarah, who hates football and is very uptight. Intercalated with these scenes, we see Paul as a young kid in the late 1960s, his relationship with his divorced father, and how he initially become an Arsenal fan.One problem with the movie is that we never know what Sarah saw in Paul, since she is critical of him from the start (the first time they talk in the movie, she protests the noise his students are making in the classroom next to her own class). Their chemistry is basically zero. Of course, this is not the fault of either Firth or Gemmell (their acting is fine). It's the script that in my view took a wrong approach.
nutolm
If you are looking to see a romantic comedy I would recommend this British film. It's funny, it's serious, and of course romantic, without being sentimental. The movie felt like a big smile, but the question is; can the love for football and the club Arsenal be combined with the love for a woman? Paul is obsessed with football and 'The Gunners', but Sarah has no idea what this game is all about.The writer Nick Hornby wrote this novel in the 80s, and he is also the man behind the script. He also has a little cameo as a coach for a boy's football team. The story takes place in 1989, and this proved to be an enjoyable and fun movie. I could see myself in my younger days watching the Norwegian team Rosenborg and British Manchester United play, and relating to this movie's depiction of enthusiasm, empathy, anxiety, and even grief, on behalf of the team.Fever Pitch rises above all those anonymous romantic comedies. There is something here that I've never seen before; the environment, the dialogues, and the actors; it has all made this story into something different. As Paul says; "There's always a reason to love what you love". That's passion. For the main character, Arsenal was the social channel to his family and friends, the team meant life and affiliation.Everything is told with intelligence and good humour. The actors gives us capturing performances, especially Colin Firth, he is sparkling with his growing dilemma - football or Sarah, or maybe both? This movie puts across the necessity to be thrilled by football - and of course by fellow humans. This movie for certain a feel good movie!
Philby-3
Based on Nick Hornby's novel, this is a case study of soccer fanhood, or hopeless Arsenal supporteritis. The fan, played by Colin Firth in good-humour mode, is brought by his usually absent Dad (Neil Pearson) to a match as a twelve year old and is instantly hooked. He grows up (if that's the right phrase) to become an English teacher in a London comprehensive school and coach of the first XI soccer team, but he's still an ardent Arsenal fan, a team that hasn't (as of 1988) won a championship. He falls in love with a fellow teacher (Ruth Gemmell) but she finds life with a sports addict hard to take. Will he get the girl and his team (Arsenal) the championship? Stay tuned! This is a nice fuzzy warm sort of movie which gives the viewer lots of quiet chuckles. There is a somewhat understanding headmaster (Ken Stott), pleasantly cheeky children, and lots of like-minded fans. There is certainly lots of solidarity. How sane adults can become sports addicts I find impossible to understand fully, but a large part of it seems to be the buzz you get from a sense of belonging to something bigger than you – a substitution for religion perhaps.
jshoaf
I am a middle-aged American woman who has never seen a soccer game and has never seen any kind of live sports game all the way through beyond Little League (3 brothers, 1 son). I live in a town where football is the main local religion. Nick Hornby's novel was a delight to read and really gave me some sense of the psychology as well as the anthropology of being a fan. I rented the movie because I wanted to SEE the novel: the stadium, the terraces, the colors, the craziness Hornby describes. Youtube and Wikipedia could tell me some about Alan Smith, Highbury, the Hillsborough tragedy, but not enough. The movie came through. Actual footage of games and scenes inside the stadium gave a powerful sense of what it's all about. The final sequence, in which various characters Paul's fandom has touched watch a championship game, was wonderfully moving. The plot has three characters--Paul the young fan, Paul the adult fan, and Sarah the outsider who is repelled by the irrationality, the loud and sweary masculinity of it all. The plot exists to allow Paul to expose, stubbornly as a child and articulately as an adult, what it means to be a fan. Sarah is there to force him into talking and thinking a bit about it. Both Pauls are marvelous. Colin Firth is amazing. His physical attractiveness is essential to the plot--it gets him into Sarah's bed so they can start talking about Arsenal-- and that simple fact leaves him huge amounts of room to be boyish, goofy, moody, clueless, innocent, and cruel.
AD
