Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch
$14.98
Full disclosure: I've been an Arsenal fan since 1979 and I remember just like the cliched JFK moment exactly what I was doing when my team pulled the equivalent of a sporting miracle by defeating the then mighty Liverpool at their home ground in 1989 to win the title. I doubt very much that I'd even care to watch this film adaptation of Nick Hornby's book if I wasn't already a fan although having watched this dvd with a non-fan recently I can understand why she thought this was pretty boring. Interestingly enough the screenplay was also written by Hornby himself and I think even he couldn't do much to save this film that would leave you in snores if you don't fit the right audience profile as described above. Hornby even picked the songs for the soundtrack which is pretty decent but otherwise the acting is pretty wooden and uninspired. I liked the way Hornby tried to explain why the protagonist behaves the way he does as an "adult" linking it to his emotional trauma at having an absent father being brought up by his mother and hence filling the gaping wound in his heart by loving Arsenal as deeply as he imagined he would have done a dad if he truly had one. His constant horrible fear of and expectation of being let down at the very end by the team mirrors the insecurity he's acquired as a child; if he couldn't trust his own father not to betray him he is constantly paranoid about his beloved Arsenal doing the same thing to him.

Happily, with the help of his love interest and Arsenal's finally winning the title after 18 years he eventually allows himself to trust others again and hence to move on to a less maniacical emotional attachment where happiness for him is not dependent upon the team's successes. Great screenplay but unfortunately the rest of what makes a film great is missing here and so unless you are a fan of the team this will be hard to sit all the way through. The sound quality is okay and is available in Dolby 5.1 Surround sound although the picture quality barely rises above VHS quality and the volume for the soundtrack of the songs is for some reason a lot louder than for the vocal track which is irritating as you almost feel you have to rush to reduce the volume the moment a song is played.

In summary, only for the die-hard fan.

Fever Pitch (Widescreen Edition)
$14.98
Movie was like new. Packaging not damaged. The review said like new and it was.

Fever Pitch
$13.09
I pretty much hate all forms of football. The fact that I read a book about football (to the British, that is: the rest of the world calls it soccer) from cover to cover, smirking, chuckling and at times laughing out loud, attests, once again, to the talent of Nick Hornby as a wordsmith. This book is witty and clever, incredibly insightful about obsession and definitely worth a read!

Fever Pitch (Full Screen Edition)
$14.98
Movie was like new. Packaging not damaged. The review said like new and it was.