British Expatriate Network

"Fever Pitch" is out this week apparently, starring Drew Barrymore and (very POOR man's Colin Firth) Jimmy Fallon(SNL), trading out Arsenal for the Boston Red Sox.

WTF?

Hope it bombs.

Enlighten me. Are you saying this film is a remake of a British football film?

Yep, they're re-done Nick Hornby's novel but instead of it being about an obsession with Football - Arsenal, it's Baseball and Red Sox.

The original movie had Colin Firth in it and I thought was a great movie. I bet this one won't be half as good.

I await the remake of Bend It Like Beckham with trepidation...... o

"Smack It Like Sosa?"

Bet Nick Hornby isn't complaining. lol

Yeah, but the Brit movie version was supposed to be pretty bad. Only caught a few minutes of it and it didn't catch my attention, even though I had already read the book a couple of years before.

Actually, as re-makes go, it's not a bad idea. They apparently actually toyed with doing it as soccer here, then as Am. Football, and settled on baseball. Incredibly lucky that they picked the Red Sox in their one winning season for years. They actually filmed key scenes on the field during the play-offs. I'll give it a shot on DVD, but certainly won't be looking for the Hornby elements.

Good news is that Bend It will almost certainly not get re-made as it made so much money anyway notwithstanding its' brit and soccer associations. I was actually really pleased that it did as it certainly showed lots of Americans a different side of Britain than the usual all White, country house and tea, murder and detectives and cheesey suburban sitcom stuff.

To be fair, there is quite a lot of tea.

Yeah, but it has cardamom in it, so that's different. :D

Not even "Slide It Like Schilling " has that catchy title to it?? :wink:

I loved the original Fever Pitch, loved the book, loved the film. Could totally relate. I would rather stick pins in eyes than watch the new version though.

I thought the original "Fever Pitch" was great too. Like you say, you could relate if football has ever taken precedence over anything else.

It was also a bit of a "Where were you when..." moment as I can recall watching that match live and it was probably one of the most amazing games of all time. I didn't even like Liverpool or Arsenal but appreciated the effort and spirit that Arsenal summoned up to steal the championship away from Liverpool - wonder if it will ever be that close again?

Can baseball really match that? I think Arsenal HAD to win and HAD to score two more goals and basically did it with the last kick of the game - since when has baseball been THAT exciting? -?

See. Here is my deal.
I wouldn't mind watching a film about the Red Sox winning the WS.
indeed, I doubt I could think of two more finer actors than Jimmy Fallon / Drew Barrymore
(actors from Boston wouldn't have gone amiss though)

but why oh why oh why
a) nick our film
b) call it fever pitch

come on. we don't make enough films in UK as it is, let alone Hollywood robbing them.

Also back in the World Series I mentioned this was happening after watching Fallon getting interviewed at Fenway

http//www.british-expats.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=182406&highlight=pitch#182406

I hear you, I hear you. Although, if you think about it, Fever Pitch actually works just as well for baseball, albeit a different kind of "pitch."