Fever Pitch

Starring: Kadee Strickland, Ione Skye, Miranda Black, Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon

Directed by: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly

RS: 2of 4 Stars

2005 20th Century Fox Sports

Cute kills. Or at least it does in this initially promising romantic comedy about Ben the teacher (Jimmy Fallon), who is a Red Sox fanatic, and Lindsey the power exec (Drew Barrymore), who is not. As the stars indulge in a cute-off -- he says she talks out of the side of her mouth like "an adorable stroke victim" -- you realize that Nick Hornby's acerbic British novel about a fan's obsession with a losing soccer team has been Americanized into fluff. Nothing is really at stake -- even the cursed Sox broke their losing streak. The movie is so soggy and anonymous, I had to remind myself that the Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby, directed it. It's sad to watch the kingpins of gross-out try to dial down to cute. Swung at and missed.