The Perfect Catch
I caught this movie a couple of days ago on DVD. Drew Barrymore is really 'the' actress for romantic comedies. The dark comedy Duplex with Ben Stiller was quite cool and I love the Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates where she paired up with Adam Sandler. These 2 are the only few Sandler films I like and the rest (to me) are pretty much trash except for Spanglish.
Well actually the Perfect Catch was known as The Fever Pitch in North America. It was based on a book of the same name (Fever Pitch) by Nick Hornby. I haven't read the book yet but this is the rough idea. It chronicled the author's personal experience as an Arsenal fan from youth and how his personal life went during the amazing (for Arsenal) 88/89 season. Maybe anyone who got this book can lend me or else I had to get Jeremy to help me get it from Kinokuniya.
The main character for the Perfect Catch Ben Wrightman was converted by his uncle into a Boston Red Sox fan at the age of 7 after a trip to Fenway Park. Since then he became regular there and never missed a single inning for the next 23 years. He was described as a Red Sox fanatic and as Drew Barrymore's Lindsey rightly pointed out his house was just like the Red Sox store. He would follow his team home or away, rain or shine, winning or losing. This had an adverse effect on his personal life. Despite being a charming fellow during the close season, he had troubles maintaining relationship whenever Red Sox were playing.
Lindsey couldn't understand why he was so obssessed with Red Sox; likewise Ben would never know why she was so flustered about her friend's birthday party. From Ben's viewpoint, Red Sox was a religion and watching them playing at Fenway Park was like being part of the family. Relationships come and go, but every weekend Red Sox was always there for him. 86 years without the winning the World Series was no deterent; in fact it only added to his devotion. For Lindsey, it just didn't make sense that Ben could invest so much passion and emotion to something he couldn't control. The game at Seattle was much more important than a romantic trip to Paris. Red Sox was clearly ahead of everything else.
There are some great quotes from the movie, the one that clearly stands out goes like this, "you love the sox but have they ever loved you back?" I don't know whether it was in the original but it really symbolized the relationship between the team and the fans. You know that the team can't love you back but you can't help loving them either. To me, following a team is like stuck in a marriage where you cannot get a divorce; you may stop supporting it but you can never follow another team again.
Although I'm no diehard like Ben, I could shades of myself in him. I had sacrificed sleep to watch Liverpool's European ties in the early morning hours. I had to trouble my friends to let me watch the matches at the time when my house had no cable. During outfield training I would listen to live comms on radio or kept on checking GPRS for the latest score. I can fully emphathise with Ben, especially after he missed the fightback against the Yankees. The pain of missing such an emotional moment would be a regret forever.
Supporting Liverpool had brought me both joy and sorrow. We were given false hopes during the Houllier's years and I had to admit that it was painful to watch the team play in his last year in charge. Meanwhile the fact that Man Utd our traditional rival was winning consistently only induces more heartbreak. However all the pent up anger and frustration were all wiped out and replaced by joy on 25th May 2005. Winning the Champions' League was unexpected; the way we came back from 0-3 down at half-time was simply unbelieveable. No words can be used to described the joy I felt; it seemed that all the years supporting the club were all worthwhile for that moment.
I was glad that at the end Lindsey realized how much Red Sox meant to Ben and accepted him for what he was. Boston Red Sox (finally) broke the curse of the Bambino and won their first World Series since 1918 that season. Just like our 5th Champions' League title, who can say that miracle doesn't happen?
Well actually the Perfect Catch was known as The Fever Pitch in North America. It was based on a book of the same name (Fever Pitch) by Nick Hornby. I haven't read the book yet but this is the rough idea. It chronicled the author's personal experience as an Arsenal fan from youth and how his personal life went during the amazing (for Arsenal) 88/89 season. Maybe anyone who got this book can lend me or else I had to get Jeremy to help me get it from Kinokuniya.
The main character for the Perfect Catch Ben Wrightman was converted by his uncle into a Boston Red Sox fan at the age of 7 after a trip to Fenway Park. Since then he became regular there and never missed a single inning for the next 23 years. He was described as a Red Sox fanatic and as Drew Barrymore's Lindsey rightly pointed out his house was just like the Red Sox store. He would follow his team home or away, rain or shine, winning or losing. This had an adverse effect on his personal life. Despite being a charming fellow during the close season, he had troubles maintaining relationship whenever Red Sox were playing.
Lindsey couldn't understand why he was so obssessed with Red Sox; likewise Ben would never know why she was so flustered about her friend's birthday party. From Ben's viewpoint, Red Sox was a religion and watching them playing at Fenway Park was like being part of the family. Relationships come and go, but every weekend Red Sox was always there for him. 86 years without the winning the World Series was no deterent; in fact it only added to his devotion. For Lindsey, it just didn't make sense that Ben could invest so much passion and emotion to something he couldn't control. The game at Seattle was much more important than a romantic trip to Paris. Red Sox was clearly ahead of everything else.
There are some great quotes from the movie, the one that clearly stands out goes like this, "you love the sox but have they ever loved you back?" I don't know whether it was in the original but it really symbolized the relationship between the team and the fans. You know that the team can't love you back but you can't help loving them either. To me, following a team is like stuck in a marriage where you cannot get a divorce; you may stop supporting it but you can never follow another team again.
Although I'm no diehard like Ben, I could shades of myself in him. I had sacrificed sleep to watch Liverpool's European ties in the early morning hours. I had to trouble my friends to let me watch the matches at the time when my house had no cable. During outfield training I would listen to live comms on radio or kept on checking GPRS for the latest score. I can fully emphathise with Ben, especially after he missed the fightback against the Yankees. The pain of missing such an emotional moment would be a regret forever.
Supporting Liverpool had brought me both joy and sorrow. We were given false hopes during the Houllier's years and I had to admit that it was painful to watch the team play in his last year in charge. Meanwhile the fact that Man Utd our traditional rival was winning consistently only induces more heartbreak. However all the pent up anger and frustration were all wiped out and replaced by joy on 25th May 2005. Winning the Champions' League was unexpected; the way we came back from 0-3 down at half-time was simply unbelieveable. No words can be used to described the joy I felt; it seemed that all the years supporting the club were all worthwhile for that moment.
I was glad that at the end Lindsey realized how much Red Sox meant to Ben and accepted him for what he was. Boston Red Sox (finally) broke the curse of the Bambino and won their first World Series since 1918 that season. Just like our 5th Champions' League title, who can say that miracle doesn't happen?
posted by shyh jie at 11:35 PM
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