The Perfect Catch

Fans of English author Nick Hornby's novel Fever Pitch, or the 1996 film of the same name starring Colin Firth, will scoff at this Americanisation of a story about an obsessed sports fan who discovers there is more to life than his team - albeit only just.

Known as Fever Pitch in the United States, this romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Saturday Night Live's Jimmy Fallon has hit our big screens titled The Perfect Catch.

Did the producers know that New Zealand was filled with obsessed sports fans who would be devastated to see this popular story stripped back to a chick flick starring cute Hollywood stars?

Probably not, but the film does the viewer a favour. The change of name removes the high expectation viewers would have if it was obviously a Nick Hornby adaptation. Now they can look at it for what it is, a fun, slightly edgy, cute piece of fluff.

In the English adaptation Colin Firth's character Ben was an Arsenal football fan in the 80s. In an attempt to modernise the story, writing duo Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (Spanglish) have transformed Ben into a baseball fan obsessed with the Boston Red Sox in 2004, a team that had consistently lost to the Yankees.

When Ben meets Lindsey Meeks (Barrymore), a successful and ambitious workaholic, she falls for his nice-guy routine and laidback manner, and they begin to date. As summer approaches Ben has to come clean about his first true love, baseball, and their relationship is put to the test.

This is a film about a relationship suffering ups and downs that correlate with a sports team's ups and downs, but it's not an intimate insight into relationships. While both leading actors can be disarmingly charming, and deliver their lines in a witty and understated way, they also fall victim to being cute and clumsy in that familiar and forgettable American manner.

This confused mix of performances may be due to a stretched-out, thinned-down story, along with its positively subdued treatment by directing duo Peter and Bobby Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary).

Somehow they make even the spontaneous moments feel predictable, which is disappointing considering they normally favour outlandish behaviour.

John Cusack and English director Stephen Frears pulled off transporting Nick Hornby's High Fidelity to Chicago; the Farrelly brothers haven't done nearly as well, showing that giving in to the cute routine can ruin a good comedy.

Cast: Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon
Director: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Running Time: 103 minutes
Rating: M, contains sexual references
Screening: Village, Hoyts and Berkeley Cinemas