Carton jaune

I am a middle-aged American woman who has never seen a soccer game and has never seen any kind of live sports game all the way through beyond Little League (3 brothers, 1 son). I live in a town where football is the main local religion. Nick Hornby's novel was a delight to read and really gave me some sense of the psychology as well as the anthropology of being a fan. I rented the movie because I wanted to SEE the novel: the stadium, the terraces, the colors, the craziness Hornby describes. Youtube and Wikipedia could tell me some about Alan Smith, Highbury, the Hillsborough tragedy, but not enough. The movie came through. Actual footage of games and scenes inside the stadium gave a powerful sense of what it's all about. The final sequence, in which various characters Paul's fandom has touched watch a championship game, was wonderfully moving. The plot has three characters--Paul the young fan, Paul the adult fan, and Sarah the outsider who is repelled by the irrationality, the loud and sweary masculinity of it all. The plot exists to allow Paul to expose, stubbornly as a child and articulately as an adult, what it means to be a fan. Sarah is there to force him into talking and thinking a bit about it. Both Pauls are marvelous. Colin Firth is amazing. His physical attractiveness is essential to the plot--it gets him into Sarah's bed so they can start talking about Arsenal-- and that simple fact leaves him huge amounts of room to be boyish, goofy, moody, clueless, innocent, and cruel.

The cover of the video is COMPLETELY misleading. I must admit that I never expected a film about a football fan to be either interesting or in-depth. I was surprised to find its US release under "New Arrivals" at my video store, and being a fan of Firth, I decided to give it a try. It's a very human story, and it is well-done. Nick Hornby's script is excellent, and he actually managed to pull me, a non-rabid fan of football, into understanding a little of what his character was going through. The inclusion of the childhood scenes was great for setting up why the character is still human, though he initially appears insane when taken in the greater context of human existence. He was portrayed very effectively by Firth, whose previous stand-out performance as Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" contrasts so sharply with the character that he plays in this film that I found myself almost cringing at the immaturity and madness portrayed by him...until the character grew on me and I felt more than just pity for him. Ruth Gemmell did a fine job of portraying Sarah, a woman who was frustratingly in love with a man who loved a sport. I liked watching the growth of both of their characters throughout the film. The thing that struck me about this film was the reality and "humanness" of it. I could see such a thing happening in actual life, and I appreciated the portrayal of the everyday struggles of learning to refocus your priorities and commit to loving someone.

Fever Pitch may not be a great film, but it is certainly a wonderful, charming, pitch-perfect film.

On the surface, it is the story of a Peter/Pan who can't give up his obsession for a local Football Team.

The man in question, (an incredibly handsome Colin Firth), is a teacher of English at the high-school level. The teacher next door is a lovely young woman with the knick-name of "iron britches". Of course the predictable happens.

What is unpredictable is the painful growth of Colin's character, and his slow progress in being able to give up his team just enough to make room for an even greater and more important love, the teacher next door.

What I love best about this film is that Colin Firth here is NOT Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy would NEVER let his Lizzie see him in his Fire Engine RED and white Arsenal Boxer Shorts!

Here Mr. Firth is rough-edged and scruffy. A man who prefers to hang out with his mates drinking beer and holding a fatalistic view that his beloved Arsenal will NEVER win the Championship.

The charm of the film lies in the growth of this man/child and the patience and understanding of the woman who loves him and their slow but certain progress from attraction to real, lasting LOVE!

See it!! I happen to love soccer. All my children played it and now my grandchildren play it. I believe the rules are different for British Football, but those difference didn't take away from the thrill of watching Arsenal in action!

Any golf,football or baseball "widow" will understand and love this film!

Fantastic. I had the pleasure of going to Highbury (Arsenal Stadium) twice to see the Gunners play in real Premiership clashes against Sheffield Wednesday and Wimbledon, and the soccer fanaticism portrayed in the film is NOT hyperbolized at all. As a Yank, i felt like a right outsider, but i was hooked instantly when i exited the Underground station and was swept away in the program selling, chips devouring, pin swapping, memorabilia peddling madness that is English Football.

Additionally, Fever Pitch is the ONLY modernly set British film i've seen that did not contain a single refference to American culture, film, TV, music, nothing...

A totally home grown Brit flick which (to use an American sporting analogy) hits it out of the park. Shamelessly sublime.

Nick Hornby strikes again! I watched this movie for Colin Firth, and enjoyed it as a fan and as a discriminating viewer. The script is excellent, particularly the dialogue (particularly in one delightful restaurant scene). I found the acting and craftsmanship satisfactory - be warned that dialogue can be quiet, so listen hard through the accents. The film is delightfully British, so I highly recommend it for Anglophiles, and as Nick Hornby knows how to do, it is a nice mix of the ludicrous and the thoughtful. The relationship the movie centers around is really interesting to follow. We wonder what makes it tick, but Colin Firth and Ruth Gemmell seem comfortable together, so it isn't unbelievable at all. I wasn't expecting "Fever Pitch" to be so good, but I find that I recommend it highly.