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2. Ben and Lindsey talk openly about their sex lives. How do you feel about that? Is their sexual relationship OK because of their feelings for each other? What would the Bible say?
   
   
3. Ben's family members have passed on, but Ben considers his fellow season ticket-holders his "summer family." How important is Ben's summer family to him? Are there people that you consider "family" that are not blood relatives? Who are those people and what makes them family to you?

The Family Corner

Fever Pitch is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor and some sensuality. Ben and Lindsey make it clear that their sex life (out of wedlock) is very important. Certain scenes portray sexual encounters. At one point, Lindsey thinks she's pregnant, setting off a series of adult situations and ideas (wanting kids, choosing a spouse, etc.) that would be difficult for young teens to understand. There's a scene in which Lindsey vomits off-screen; the sound effects are horrendous. In another scene, Lindsey and her friends work out at a gym; clothing is scant and the cleavage ample.

Photos Copyright © 20th Century Fox

While Sahara earns unflattering terms from the dictionary of desert terminology, Fever Pitch, the new romantic comedy starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, sends critics scrambling for some complimentary lingo from the baseball's lexicon.

Based rather loosely on the novel by Nick Hornby, who also wrote High Fidelity, the Farrelly Brothers' new film finds them keeping their typically crass humor in the dugout (see how easy it is?) and bringing something more pleasant to the plate. (You too can write like a film critic!)

The film follows two obsessed baseball fans, Ben and Lindsey, who follow the Red Sox to the World Series. (Apparently, the Red Sox season took such an unexpected turn, the script was revised to include the sensational events.)

"Barrymore and Fallon have loads of chemistry," says Mary Lasse (Christianity Today Movies). "They seem comfortable working together and they portray their characters with sincerity. Maybe it's because Ben and Lindsey are not caricatures. We probably all know someone with an 'unhealthy' obsession with sports—or work or a hobby or any of a variety of possible addictions. We probably also understand how that obsession has hindered and interfered with relationships. Though Ben and Lindsey hop in the sack a bit too quickly, there's no denying that they care for each other. While I wouldn't recommend this film for younger teens, I can recommend it to more mature viewers looking for an option on a date night or a movie group."

David Dicerto (Catholic News Service) calls it a "sweet and funny romantic comedy. Unfortunately … the courtship in Fever Pitch involves a premarital living arrangement, precluding an unqualified thumbs-up. But apart from that, [the Farrellys] have hit a home run. [The movie] imparts an admirable message about how love demands both acceptance and sacrifice. Hopeless romantics and baseball enthusiasts will undoubtedly be entertained, but even those who think a 'stolen base' is a felony will find themselves cheering by the end, New York Yankees fans excepted."

But Kenneth R. Morefield (Christian Spotlight) is greatly dismayed at how the film has screwed up its source material. In fact, he argues that the wise conclusion in a 1997 version of the film is reversed in this adaptation. "I could spend three reviews writing about how and why the new Fever Pitch is inferior to the 1997 version starring Colin Firth or the 1994 semi-autobiographical novel by Nick Hornby and never get around to providing solid information about this film for the benefit of the uninitiated. So let me start by saying if you are not a Firth fan, a Hornby fan, a Yankees fan, or an intelligent movie fan, you probably won't be disappointed by this watered-down version of a pretty good story. You may even be entertained by it; I know I would have been, if I could have stopped counting the ways it should have been better."

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