The Perfect Catch

Review by Clint Morris

Not unlike attending a game where the opposing teams are your least favourites, it's no use buying a ticket for The Perfect Catch if you're not A) a Jimmy Fallon fan, B) a sports fan, fond of baseball in particular, or C) a fan of the unwarranted remake.

But even if you are, you still won't go home singing the team theme and yearning for the replay; if anything, you'll adorn a half-smile and spend the night wondering why it wasn't a better match.

Fact of the matter is, The Perfect Catch should be quite a good game. It stars rom-com queen Drew Barrymore, is written by seasoned comedy vets Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel and is directed by the habitually hilarious Farrelly brothers (There's Something About Mary).

Though everyone's trying their best with this bout, it just doesn't stir the senses as much as it should - suppose everyone's entitled to have an off game.

Schoolteacher Ben Wrightman (Jimmy Fallon, still feeling his way around this big-screen expedition of his) has just fallen for business consultant Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore) - and vice versa. Everything seems to be going quite fine, until she clicks onto the fact that he's absolutely obsessed with a baseball team, the Red Sox.

She should be his first priority, but unfortunately his team is - and he's not missing a game for the world. Things change though, and so does Ben.

Loosely based on the book "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby and also the so-so 1997 Brit film starring Colin Firth, The Perfect Catch comes off a little under baked. All the right ingredients are in place, but it's missing some much-needed spice.

That zing might be either Adam Sandler (instead of Jimmy Fallon, who is good, but still has a long to go before he's officially leading man pedigree) whose seemingly Ms Barrymore's perfect on-screen match. It could have also been a fleshier, more detailed and utterly more sturdy script - one that would have us giving more of a hoot about the characters, or even some much needed edge - which the Farrelly's could have injected easily enough to deter the film from coming off so much like an uber-gentle and cushy product that's simply fallen off the studio manufacturing line. It could be great: it's merely good.

The Perfect Catch is sweet enough, and does have a couple of good moments, but even a sports fan's going to want to think twice about shelling out cinema admission prices on something that's not going to entertain half-as-much as an afternoon at Saturday footy will.

3 out of 5

The Perfect Match
Australian release: Thursday the 8th of September, 2005
Cast: Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore, Ione Skye, KaDee Strickland, Jack Kehler, Scott Severance.
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly.
Website: Click here.

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