by SARAH ROWLAND and MARK SLUTSKY

Fever Pitch

Nick Hornby's winning streak is over. Unlike his other novels About a Boy and High Fidelity, the cinematic adaptation of Fever Pitch doesn't come close to living up to his prose. Not even the incredibly adorable coupling of Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon can hit Hornby's baseball rom-com out of the park. Strike one: for the first half of the movie, Barrymore comes across as a charmless bitch. Strike two: The timing of the jokes, including the funny ones, is way off. Strike three: Knowing there is a funnier Fallon out there somewhere in desperate need of a good script is so disheartening.

Here we have self-obsessed careerist Lindsey (Barrymore), falling in love with the irresistibly sweet school teacher Ben (Fallon). Ben is perfect in almost every way. He mops up her puke. He gets along with her dog. He rocks in the sack. Even his bed-head doesn't seem contrived. He has one major drawback, though: an all-consuming obsession with the Boston Red Sox. His apartment is basically a gift shop for Sox merch. But more importantly, he schedules his life and relationships around America's favourite pastime. So we know 10 minutes in that his big lesson is going to be realizing, "It's just a game."

There's no denying the cute factor that both leads possess. But it's not until the bottom of the ninth that we see Barrymore and Fallon bring their characters to life, and the chemistry between them finally ignites. Though not a complete shutout, this Farrelly brother effort ultimately takes too long to find its stride and loses the game. (SR)

Jimmywork

Jimmy Weber is not the kind of guy you look at and think, "Now that guy oughtta be in pictures." He's obese. His face is starting to cauliflower from alcoholism and he has the onscreen charisma of a third-generation pig farmer. Yet, in 1999, Montreal director Simon Sauvé saw through his neighbour's obvious physical challenges and unsavoury personality. What he saw was the makings of his debut feature Jimmywork, a black & white mock doc in which everyone plays themselves, but most of the footage is staged.... or is it?

Weber makes a living by stewing and packaging organic cat food. But grain-fed chickens aren't the only thing he's cookin' up. The 49-year-old gambleholic is always concocting some ludicrous get-rich-quick scheme. The film starts with his latest scam, where he's pretending to be a big-time American producer so that he can pitch an ad campaign to promote St-Tite's rodeo extravaganza. Failing that, he plots an elaborate ruse to steal the stampede beer supply from a nearby warehouse and then hold it for ransom.

We don't see Sauvé behind his 35 mm, but he plays a big role by egging Webber on to follow though on his plans. Using desert-dry humour, it's not always clear how much of Jimmywork is premeditated. But what is clear is that Sauvé is definitely someone to watch out for in Quebec cinema. (SR)

Saint Ralph

Set in Hamilton, Ontario, during the '50s, this Canadian flick follows the story of a precocious kid (Adam Butcher), who believes that if he wins the Boston Marathon, his ailing mother will wake from her coma. Since his father died in the war and his mother lives in the hospital, the spunky orphan (in more ways than one, as our hero spends about a quarter of the movie masturbating) lives by himself in the family home.

That doesn't stop him from attending a strict Catholic school presided over by mean Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), who wants to crush the kid's dreams, and nice Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), who wants to encourage them. You can see where this is going: a vaguely anti-authoritarian feel-good flick with an offbeat hero. Michael McGowan's second feature works in parts, mostly thanks to Scott and Pinsent's presence (and Jennifer Tilly as a kind nurse doesn't hurt either), but the movie suffers from the overwriting that is sadly characteristic of so many Canadian films. The dialogue just feels too much like a CanCon screenplay most of the time, and it really drags Saint Ralph down. Still, there are enough good moments to keep it at least somewhat watchable. (MS)

Fever Pitch, Jimmywork and Saint Ralph open Friday, April 8

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