Fever Pitch

Oh, those alpha males and their sports. Such an immature and antisocial lot. Or are they? Could it be that those who would shut them up are simply uptight killjoys? That's the dilemma at the heart of Fever Pitch, adapted by writer Nick Hornby (High Fidelity) from his own novel. When new teacher in town Sarah (Ruth Gemmell) first encounters loutish English teacher Paul (Colin Firth), who likes soccer more than Byron, it's condescension at first sight, which prompts her best friend to exclaim, "The two of you'll end up shagging on the carpet." Surprisingly, it takes very little time for such an obvious event to happen, and the moment it gets serious between the two, Sarah's trying to cure the man of his sports mania. To the credit of Hornby and director David Evans, they hedge on the issue of how unhealthy extreme soccer fandom may or may not be. On the pro-soccer side is Paul's very good question, "Why is it that adults aren't allowed to go mad about anything?" Then there's Sarah's roommate, who observes that when women learn something about sports via their lovers, "it's all a sinister form of male manipulation." This amiable British import seems to ultimately argue for moderation and compromise, which is not at all a bad thing, nor is it too surprising. Perhaps English women should be glad that it's usually too cold over there for fat guys to paint their bodies in team colors.