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Fever pitch - Colin Firth, Ruth Gemmell, Richard Claxton, David Evans

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Life gets complicated when you love one woman and worship eleven men.

Based on Nick Hornby's best-selling autobiography, Fever pitch is set during the 1988/89 English football season. Paul Ashworth (Colin Firth), an English teacher in his mid 30s, is a passionate Arsenal fan; as the season and the film progress, his team at last stand their best chance of winning the league championship, ending a barren run of 18 years.

At the North London school where he teaches, Paul meets Sarah (Ruth Gemmell), whose propensity for severity, dourness and single-minded professionalism reminds him of Arsenal manager George Graham. Against their better judgement - he thinks she is too uptight, she thinks he is a yob - they embark on an occasionally stormy relationship. As the wheels begin to come off Arsenal's championship challenge Sarah realises just how dangerous it is to tie one's fortunes to those of a football club.

Persons of interest

Luke Aikman .... Young Paul
Bea Guard .... Paul's Sister
Neil Pearson .... Paul's Dad
Lorraine Ashbourne .... Paul's Mum
Ruth Gemmell .... Sarah Hughes
Colin Firth .... Paul Ashworth
Richard Claxton .... Robert
Ken Stott .... Ted
Holly Aird .... Jo
Mark Strong .... Steve
Peter Quince .... Frank
Charles Cork .... Rex
Bob Curtiss .... Stan
Nick Hornby .... Author
Nick Hornby .... Screenwriter
David Evans .... Director

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Fever pitch is like "What the Special Agent and the whole row of boofy blokes in front of him saw." I suspect that this film will have a strong male audience demographic, even though it's not (strictly speaking) a guy movie.

It's all about sporting obsessions and how they can take over your life (perhaps that's why they call them obsessions). As any sporting fan will tell you, the rush you get from a well-played game is incomparable, even moreso when you are a follower of one of the teams. When I was living in Perth the West Coast Eagles made it to the grand final of the AFL, and while the game was playing the streets were literally deserted. A half-hour trip across town took 10 minutes because there was no traffic. It was like a scene from a holocaust movie. Spooky. And that's why it's not just a guy sport movie, because it's about fans and how sport can give your life meaning.

But it's also about love and overcoming differences of opinion and the dangers of obsession (there's that word again). It's a drama and it's a damned funny one, too. Humour that everyone can relate to because it's so cuttingly human.

And it's interesting how a 105 minute movie can have you gripping your seat in the hope that Arsenal (which has to be one of the world's most unfortunate names for a sporting team) will overcome the impossible and defeat Liverpool in an away game. The more you know about sport/soccer the more you will enjoy Fever pitch, but even a sport virgin will have plenty to enjoy.

Security censorship classification

M (Medium level coarse language)

Surveillance time

105 minutes (1:45 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 21 August 1997