Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch is about a fanatical football fan who lives and breathes for his team, Arsenal. Even at school, where Paul, as he is called, is actually supposed to be teaching literature, it does not take long before the talk turns to Arsenal. When his colleague, the strait-laced and super-sensible Sarah, enters Paul's life, he has to strike a balance between the woman he loves and the team he worships. That is hard when Arsenal, for the first time in eighteen years, are favourites to win the championship, and in the long run Sarah will not put up with playing second fiddle. Even though she is pregnant, the couple take a break from each other.

When Arsenal win the championship, Paul is released from his fanatical relationship with the football team and can devote himself to Sarah, who is not slow to take him back. In a way the film's ending is a little too easy, for what would have happened if Arsenal had not won? Would Paul ever stop waiting for the triumph? That aside, Fever Pitch is a life-affirming comedy about women, men and their respective views on the hugely popular game. Colin Firth and Ruth Gemmell play so well off each other that I would gladly have seen more of Paul and Sarah's life together.