This was so not the movie I was expecting and I don’t know why I was expecting anything but cuteness given Drew Barrymore can do no wrong. I think I was a little thrown when the movie was first announced – I haven’t read the book or seen the British version and it just seemed like such a dumb remake to make, especially by the writer-directors in question. But this is possibly the most elegant movie the Farrelly Brothers have done (haven’t seen Shallow Hal yet but it looks about as OTT as There’s Something … etc) There’s no-one mentally retarded, conjoined, obese, or even anyone with cum in their hair to poke fun at here, only a rather endearing baseball fan (that’s something I thought I’d never say). But quelle baseball fan.

I think I dug this movie more still since I just finished reading Joe Queenan’s “True Believers” about very very similar sports fans. He may even mention this movie in there, I think he does, I’m not sure. Anyone who knows me knows how I hate sports, but I love Joe Queenan which is why I read that book, and while I struggled to get through the whole thing, this movie kinda brings all his points together quite brilliantly (just in case anyone else is in the same ‘why in god’s name did I just read that?’ point – watch this movie! you’ll get it!).

Like a lot of the IMDb comments point out, this movie is less a sports movie (though there’s plenty of sports and sports talk that will please the fans it’s about) and more about relationships, commitment, etc. And while there’s plenty of slapstick humour (and all of it made me laugh for once), from Fallon and Barrymore falling in love over her vomiting to Barrymore running across the field at the end, this is 100% a Drew Barrymore ultra-cute chick-flick. One I’ll watch many times again, I think.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2005 at 5:28 am in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.