Product Details

• Actors: Colin Firth, Ruth Gemmell, Luke Aikman, Bea Guard, Neil Pearson
• Directors: David Evans
• Writers: Nick Hornby
• Producers: Amanda Posey, Nick O'Hagan, Nik Powell, Stephen Woolley
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Vidmark / Trimark
• VHS Release Date: November 28, 2000
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Z1NP
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,187 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

From The New Yorker

Nick Hornby's beautiful and desperate book-about the pain behind a soccer fan's true love for the game-is given a pleasant, if somewhat lumpy, cinematic telling by director David Evans. Colin Firth plays a superfan who neglects certain responsibilities in pursuit of his favorite team's championship, and Ruth Gemmell, with a dry wit and warm comic flair, plays his frustrated love interest (she has no love for soccer). The film tries too hard to be both a romantic comedy and an emotional drama about fandom, but it's filled with intelligent observations on the nature of obsession and love. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Here's a case where the film beats the book, February 16, 2001

By 

V. Gelczis "boss_of_rain" (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fever Pitch (DVD)

As a Nick Hornby fan, I read "Fever Pitch" and found it to be very masculine. It was organized much like the sports page--match by match, sort of a statistical chronicle of Arsenal over several decades. The film, on the other hand, centers on the personal life of the football fanatic (closely based on Nick Hornby himself) and provides much more balance and intrigue.

The match-up of the serious, somewhat humorless female English teacher and the passionate-about-football but about little else male English teach is enticing. She wants to learn to loosen up and connect with her students and their parents the way she perceives he does, and he wants to be with someone attractive with backbone and spark. As played by Ruth Gemmell and Colin Firth, you see why these opposites attract and you also see why they conflict.

Despite the provocative cover, I don't see why this film is rated R. Language, maybe, and adult ideas? The sex is tame and modest, although there is an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Still, I think this would be as good a film for the teenage sports fan as it is for adults. How passions conflict (in this case, between love and sports fanaticism) and how compromises and resolutions can be made is a worthy topic to address and is well answered in this film.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Colin Firth's Acting Range Is Terrific!, December 1, 2000

By 

carol irvin "carol irvin" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fever Pitch (DVD)

You would never know that this was the same actor who played Darcy so fabulously well in "Pride and Prejudice." He is totally convincing as a teacher whose all-consuming passion is football (soccer really because this is England). He is in the midst of a romance with another teacher but his overriding interest in football seriously interferes with the woman in his life. Any woman who has ever experienced this dilemma should fall totally in love with this film. There are even many hilarious moments pertaining to this sports addiction. The writer, Nick Hornby, also wrote "High Fidelity" and you can tell that the same person wrote both. He has a very unique way of presenting men and their romantic foibles. Firth, in this film, and John Cusack, in "High Fidelity," are not your typical screen romantic heroes and they provide offbeat alternatives to all of us oddballs out there.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth it despite the usual US marketing screwup, March 25, 2002

By 

Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fever Pitch (DVD)

I wrote an earlier review of Nick Hornby's 'Fever Pitch' as well. It's worth writing a separate review of the movie because it's so different. Not better, or worse. Just different. The book focuses on Hornby's lifelong obession with Arsenal, the English Premiership football (aka 'soccer') club. In the movie, Hornby's written a script that focuses on one extended episode from the book. It becomes more of a relationship movie.

Here's evidence of the difference: my wife tried to read the book, but could only stomach about 30 pages of it. I endured it, liked it, but I'll admit that it can be a tough slog for someone that didn't grow up with English football. The names of Arsenal players, coaches and opponents became a blur at times.

In contrast, we both enjoyed the movie a great deal. It's a cute little story (nothing more), and we both like all of Colin Firth's work. He's a little more rumpled than usual here, but compelling nevertheless.

Oh yeah, ignore the cover box. There are no topless women. No strategically placed soccer cleats. It's yet another odd effort by American re-packagers thinking they have to disguise the true nature of a British movie (see also "Brassed Off" and, most egregiously, "East is East").