In Fever Pitch rumpled, amiable Colin Firth plays a rumpled, amiable English teacher named Paul. He's also an obsessive football fan who's been avidly following Arsenal for 18 years. When he falls into a relationship with a new teacher named Sarah (Ruth Gemmel), his deep attachment to Arsenal proves an obstacle. This sounds like some cheap men-and-women-don't-understand-each-other setup, but instead Fever Pitch not only explores the origins of Paul's football fandom, it actually communicates an infectious sense of what that kind of sports enthusiasm can mean, how it can provide an almost tribal identity. Even better, the movie takes this devotion seriously without ever losing sight of how it can be completely ridiculous at the same time, resulting in some amazing, funny scenes. Gemmel is charming, and Firth is simply superb. He's a great actor who, despite his memorable turn as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, never quite fits into conventional leading man roles and so has tended to play oddballs and redeemable villains, as in Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient. He's a perfect fit for this script, written by Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity and About a Boy) from his of the same name. The humour of Fever Pitch is all the more engaging because it's grounded in richly developed characters and emotions. --Bret Fetzer,