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Dom Robinson reviews

Fever Pitch

Life gets complicated when you love
one woman and worship eleven men !

Distributed by
VCI

Cat.no: VCLD 3608
Cert: 15
Running time: 97 minutes
Sides: 2 (CLV)
Year: 1996
Pressing: 1997
Chapters: 21 (13/8)
Sound: Dolby Surround
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Price: £24.99
Extras : None

Director:

David Evans

Producer:

Amanda Posey

Screenplay:

Nick Hornby

based on his book

Music:

Neill Maccoll and Boo Hewerdine

Songs:

The Pretenders - Goin' Back
The Bible - Honey Be Good
The La's - There She Goes
Tommy Steele - Little White Bull
Harry J Allstars - The Liquidator
The Smiths - I Started Something I Couldn't Finish
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken ?
Slade - Coz I Luv You
Aztec Camera - Working In A Goldmine
New Order - Round And Round
Paul Hardcastle - The Wizard
The Jesus and Mary Chain - April Skies
Tim Hardin - How Can We Hang On To A Dream
The Pogues - Fiesta
Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World
Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing
The Who - Baba O'Reilly

Van Morrison - Bright Side Of The Road

Cast:

Paul: Colin Firth

Another Country, Circle Of Friends, A Month In The Country, The Hour Of The Pig, TV appearances: "Pride And Prejudice"

Sarah: Ruth Gemmell

Paul's Dad: Neil Pearson

TV appearances: "Between The Lines", "Drop The Dead Donkey", "Rhodes"

Paul's Mum: Lorraine Ashbourne

Steve: Mark Strong

TV appearances: "Emma", "Our Friends In The North", "Sharpe's Mission"

Jo: Holly Aird

TV appearances: "Dressing For Breakfast", "Soldier, Soldier", "Inspector Morse", "Kavanagh Q.C."

Headmaster: Ken Stott

The Debt Collector, TV appearances: "Rhodes"

Ray the Guvenor: Stephen Rea

The Crying Game, Bad Behaviour, Angie, Angel

Fever Pitch tells the tale of love between two people who initially hate each other. Paul and Sarah are two teachers at a comprehensive school, and the scene is set from the start as Paul is shown as being incapable of keeping a class quiet, while new teacher Sarah shows them who's boss from day one.

The film is set during the 1988/89 football season, which also encompasses the Hillsborough tragedy on April 15th 1989, and Paul has to find the balance between loving one woman and worshipping the eleven men of his home team, Arsenal. Paul wasn't always so besotted with the national game, and flashbacks going back over twenty years are given showing where his obsession began, and continue through the years showing how it progressed.

In the present day, each of the pair have their best friends to turn to when queries arise. Sarah has her flatmate Jo, and Paul has his Subbuteo-loving friend Steve. However, Paul soon learns that relationships, unlike football, aren't played out in seasons and it begs the question - is he more concerned about their relationship lasting once they get it together, or Arsenal's chances of winning the championship for the first time since 1971 ?

The film has a very good cast with some nemorable characters. Colin Firth equips himself well as the passionate fan for whom football means more to him than life itself. Of the rest of the cast, Neil Pearson and Holly Aird are two of the most well-known members, both having been seen in many television productions, and Stephen Rea pops up as a cameo as one of the interviewers when Paul is applying for the Head of Year job.

Ruth Gemmell is adequate in her teacher role, but the chemistry between the two leads doesn't seem quite as apparent as one would have expected in a film about two people who perfectly fit the phrase opposites attract.

The picture quality of the disc is first rate bringing out the flesh tones well, and completely avoiding any colour bleeding as you might expect when a school team with bright red shirts are running about a football field. One scene of note for quality comes early on in chapter 3, in the "Royal Oak vs. Ongar" match on 26th September 1988, as the match is played late at night against a superbly-floodlit pitch. The aspect ratio of 1.85:1 also presents the film much better than a fullscreen version would have.

The sound quality is also excellent, bringing the music to life in the many scenes full of top quality tunes from Van Morrison, The Bible, The Smiths and Aztec Camera, as listed earlier in this review, and also in the ambient scenes when music isn't playing.

The chaptering is also good in the most part, but at 21 over a 97-minute film, a few more wouldn't go amiss. Chapter 9 unfortunately starts in the middle of one of Firth's monologue's about becoming an adult. At this point it begins as we see some of the children from the school walking home after a match, when it should have been placed just a few seconds earlier showing not only that they won it but also that Firth clearly hasn't grown up fully yet as he can jump around with the best of them when the team he's coaching scores a goal.

In similar fashion to Brassed Off though, chapter 1 opens with the VCI logo and an advert for The Guardian, sponsors of Film on Four, and then goes into the film. An extra chapter should have been inserted there as the second one is placed after the "Fever Pitch" logo which is as far as the opening credits get. Thankfully, an extra chapter was placed at the start of the closing credits, even though this extra chapter, number 22, isn't even listed on the back of the sleeve.

There is a nice touch, however, in that most chapters are labelled after quotes in the film, such as She's got her heart set on a hairdresser's apprenticeship, when a school "parents evening" doesn't quite go to plan for Sarah; No-One cares if Patrick Swayze read Byron, as Sarah and Jo discuss the merits of superstars over ordinary men; and one that defines itself, Not on the carpet, I can't afford it...

Overall, this is a film well worth checking out whether you're a football fan or not. Personally, football isn't my bag at all, so a scene such as that near the end when the champion of the first division is revealed comes across as well as any cleverly-written drama; and with the picture and sound quality being as good as this, this disc comes thoroughly recommended.

This is the one of three discs released by VCI in their first foray into the PAL Laserdisc market, a move to be congratulated as more companies are getting in on the act. The other currently released titles are Brassed Off and Secrets And Lies.

Film: 4/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.

Check out VCI's Web site.

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