Fever Pitch: Curse Reversed Edition
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Cast: Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, Jack Kehler
Extras: Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, Featurette, Gag Reel, Trailer
Rating:
Usually noted for their gross-you-out style, both Peter and Bobby Farrelly (There's Something About Mary) have a winning hit on their hands as they mix romance and baseball with winning results, without excessive nastiness, in their latest film "Fever Pitch". Ben (Jimmy Fallon), a teacher and life-long Red Sox fan, who basically lives in a shrine devoted to his idolized team, including sleeping on baseball themed bed sheets and wearing anything and everything Red Sox. While on a school-inspired field trip, Ben meets Lindsey (Drew Barrymore) and after giving into Ben's charm, she decides to strike up a romance with him, even though Ben is not Lindsey's idea of the typical "dream" guy, meaning the shallow longing for a successful guy with a full bank account. Things go quite well at first, considering this is still winter and baseball has yet to start. Once spring hits and Ben's beloved Red Sox take to the field, the tensions mount as he finds himself torn between the woman he is falling in love with and the next big series match-up.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment presents "Fever Pitch" in two different, but almost identical DVD editions. The first being a nicely packed edition with a wealth of special features, and a second edition features the same extras plus additional footage for Red Sox fans, in the form of an extended ending capturing their monumental World Series win, in the appropriately titled "Curse Reversed Edition". The 1.85:1 anamorphic presentation is virtually free of any and all compression issues. Color saturation is top-notch, which is truly evident with the lush green grass during games at Fenway Park. Flesh tones were always natural in appearance and blacks were reproduced rich in depth that maintained consistent overall detail that was first-rate throughout the entire presentation.
The soundtrack for "Fever Pitch" comes in the form of a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that presents naturally sounding dialogue, and truly shines during game sequences, with a good presence of music and ball park ambience, which helps make this a well balanced sonic presentation.
Along with the terrific presentation, there is a good amount of special features including; an audio commentary from Peter and Bobby Farrelly, a total of thirteen deleted scenes, a gag reel, a featurette titled "Making a Scene: Fever Pitch", two short internet featurettes titled "Love Triangle" and "Break the Curse" as well as a theatrical trailer.
Considering that this film was going to be made with a somewhat bittersweet ending, the improvisational filming of the actual win by the Red Sox was a nice conclusion to a film that captures a good balance of romance and sports action that is sure to please either the hopeless romantic or the baseball hungry sports fan.
