Fever Pitch
(★☆)
PG-13, 103 Minutes, South Wind 12
Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon star in the remake of an adaptation from a novel that was set in England and based around soccer. But this heartwarming comedy successfully becomes an entity of its own in the hands of its directors, the Farrelly Brothers.
Ben is a decent, likeable and funny guy; and a dream of Lindsay when she meets him. But her friends warn her. He must have something wrong with him to be single at this age. And there is — he's a Red Sox fan. That says it all, apparently. It comes down to having to find a balance between the woman he loves and the love of his life, the Red Sox.
Fallon and Barryme work well together — funny, charming and believable. Fallon brilliantly plays a character who is identifiable as having a deep passion for something, which we all know about, and having to bring together two parts of his life that eventually counter
each other, Barrymore is adorable, and plays the strong role of a woman letting herself love someone finally, and then feeling as though she is taking something away from him.
The story is engaging, and sweet and hilarious at moments, and at one point is coincidentally relevant to this area — a great jibe at the KRCOvals, which got a round of applause in the theater. Like most Parrelly Brothers films, the movie doesn't take itself seriously in any way, and while there are cheesy and predictable parts, there is also some surprising and dirty humor hinted at, keeping the audience entertained throughout. In many ways it is a step up again for the directors after films such as Shallow Hall, compared to which this film is far superior.
Michael Boyd
Not a particularly fresh comedy, but one that will perhaps be better to wait for on DVD, to have a quiet evening in with a pizza and a group of friends.
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (✩)
PG-13, 115 Minutes, South Wind 12
Sandra Bullock returned to tomboy detective Gracie Hart in the sequel to the 2000 hit comedy. Surprisingly very different from her previous film, it by no means a stand-out comedy.
What happened to Gracie Hart? She joined a national beauty pageant to try and solve a crime, and ended up winning the runner-up prize as well as snagging her vritain. But now everyone knows her, and after an aborted mission because of her fame, she accepts the job of being "the face of the FBL." Now she is the girly-girl she never wanted to be, but is so caught up in the lifestyle that when her friend, and winner of the beauty pageant, is kidnapped, no one trusts her to solve the case.
Neither particularly interesting nor funny, the best thing about this film is But
all images courtesy www.movies.yahoo.com
lock, who is both watchable and lovable, despite spouting quotes about designers and other *Clueless*-type remarks. With a few exceptions, she is surrounded by annoying characters who you wish would go away, and many of the scenes are obviously trying to be over-flambowy and flashy for no particular reason. But the body of the film is a step away from the first, and unusually there is no love-story — and what replaces it is a female buddy theme between Bullock and her body-guard, Regina King, which actually works quite well. There are some humorous bits, such as Bullock dressing up as an old lady to find information, and her occasional fights with King, but it doesn't hold together well.
work again.
Not a bad sequel to a film that wasn't a classic itself, and semi-enjoyable if you've got nothing else to watch.
—Michael Boyd