The Perfect Catch

Herald rating: ***

The Perfect Catch is a US version of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. In the mid-90s, director David Evans, Hornby and Colin Firth made a version oriented to the lager-lad, Arsenal-supporting mentality of the average FHM reader.

Shock, horror: those gross-out Farrelly brothers, Barrymore and her co-star Jimmy Fallon have actually read the book and revert to its themes of Ben, a man torn between his passion for sport (altered to baseball for a US audience) and the love of Lindsey, a no-nonsense girl. They end up going one-on-one and Ben reveals his dirty little secret: he is obsessed with the Boston Red Sox. Lindsey plays along, but grows resentful of the compromises she must make in a tender, even subtle love story.

* DVD, Video rental out today.