I saw this in a theater with only about 10 other people on a Friday night . . . that tells you how well the box office was going for this worthless movie, since it didn't open that long ago.
It's a well-known fact that the studios throw their lesser quality products at us just before the summer blockbuster season so they can make some return on their investments. That being said, there's got to be at least SOME quality! Acting, directing, editing and writing. You name it, it was bad. I liked Jimmy Fallon on "Weekend Update," but the man isn't an actor. Drew Barrymore can act somewhat when she's paired up with someone who can lead her along. If only she had that person on the set with her.
Ganz and Mandel are usually good screenwriters for cute and somewhat thought-provoking comedies like City Slickers and Parenthood and Speechless (I own all three of these movies) -- I don't know what happened here, but it didn't work. Nick Hornby's other novels, like "High Fidelity" and "About A Boy," were easily adaptable to the screen, and the screenwriters were faithful in their adaptations, even if they changed locales from London to Chicago. That's why those two movies fared so well critically. Ganz and Mandel didn't trust the novel, and decided to do some major dumbing-down of the material in order to appeal to a mass audience here in the States. They overshot the mark and went for retarded.
The editing was not at all proficient, and there was a sense quite often that the actors were pausing after their lines for laughter they had no hope of getting.
Save your box office money, rent the DVD of the British "Fever Pitch" starring Colin Firth, faithfully adapted from the Nick Hornby novel. You won't be disappointed. Unless you're a really big Jimmy Fallon fan, don't go to the theater to see this.
It's a well-known fact that the studios throw their lesser quality products at us just before the summer blockbuster season so they can make some return on their investments. That being said, there's got to be at least SOME quality! Acting, directing, editing and writing. You name it, it was bad. I liked Jimmy Fallon on "Weekend Update," but the man isn't an actor. Drew Barrymore can act somewhat when she's paired up with someone who can lead her along. If only she had that person on the set with her.
Ganz and Mandel are usually good screenwriters for cute and somewhat thought-provoking comedies like City Slickers and Parenthood and Speechless (I own all three of these movies) -- I don't know what happened here, but it didn't work. Nick Hornby's other novels, like "High Fidelity" and "About A Boy," were easily adaptable to the screen, and the screenwriters were faithful in their adaptations, even if they changed locales from London to Chicago. That's why those two movies fared so well critically. Ganz and Mandel didn't trust the novel, and decided to do some major dumbing-down of the material in order to appeal to a mass audience here in the States. They overshot the mark and went for retarded.
The editing was not at all proficient, and there was a sense quite often that the actors were pausing after their lines for laughter they had no hope of getting.
Save your box office money, rent the DVD of the British "Fever Pitch" starring Colin Firth, faithfully adapted from the Nick Hornby novel. You won't be disappointed. Unless you're a really big Jimmy Fallon fan, don't go to the theater to see this.