That's how good Nick Hornby's original best-seller was. It captured the essence of fandom at a time when sport obsession is more rampant than ever, and yet, it showed how eventually, true love presents itself as the one thing more important than what the football (or for that matter you can substitute it with any sport) fan holds dearest. At the end of this film, you come away with not only a touching belief in love and its pricks and silent sacrifices, played out beautifully by the characters, but also a sense of what nostalgic fandom means not just as almost a tradition in a person's life, but the power of love to melt over it.
Acting performances in this film are fantastic and while its probably not the film that launched Colin Firth's career as British Leading man, is the one that has him capturing the essence of something intrinsically British (namely- football fanaticism), epitomised by his crazy worship of his team, Arsenal F.C. Firth's performance is as classy as it is deranged; hilarious yet naively charming.
However, Firth's acting is boosted because there is essentially a fantastically wonderful story that underlaid this work, since it was based on Hornby's published work (which was always) probably going to be made into a movie, just for its fairytale feel, and of course, it was a precedent setting film as it was one of the first football (soccer) based mid-budget films. And like its ensuing emulators, other football based movies, like 'My Summer with Des' or 'Mike Bassett', what is utilised strongly is the level of emotion and drama that can be correspondingly tweaked to titillate based on the events of sport that the show uses.
In this one, complete with stock footage of Michael Thomas' injury time winner at Anfield over the English Champions Liverpool F.C in 1989 - the team that in the words of one of the ladies in the film, was 'famous for being good', the film can boast an amazing climatic setting for the finale, on top of the romance quotient.
It set a romantic comedy precedent for British type sport movies and is worth watching for that pioneering factor alone. 1-0 to the Arsenal, 2-0 to Colin Firth, and 3-0 game set and match for Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch!
Acting performances in this film are fantastic and while its probably not the film that launched Colin Firth's career as British Leading man, is the one that has him capturing the essence of something intrinsically British (namely- football fanaticism), epitomised by his crazy worship of his team, Arsenal F.C. Firth's performance is as classy as it is deranged; hilarious yet naively charming.
However, Firth's acting is boosted because there is essentially a fantastically wonderful story that underlaid this work, since it was based on Hornby's published work (which was always) probably going to be made into a movie, just for its fairytale feel, and of course, it was a precedent setting film as it was one of the first football (soccer) based mid-budget films. And like its ensuing emulators, other football based movies, like 'My Summer with Des' or 'Mike Bassett', what is utilised strongly is the level of emotion and drama that can be correspondingly tweaked to titillate based on the events of sport that the show uses.
In this one, complete with stock footage of Michael Thomas' injury time winner at Anfield over the English Champions Liverpool F.C in 1989 - the team that in the words of one of the ladies in the film, was 'famous for being good', the film can boast an amazing climatic setting for the finale, on top of the romance quotient.
It set a romantic comedy precedent for British type sport movies and is worth watching for that pioneering factor alone. 1-0 to the Arsenal, 2-0 to Colin Firth, and 3-0 game set and match for Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch!