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News
Critical Consensus: Pitch Fever Has Edge Over Sahara
by Senh Duong | April 07, 2005
Discuss Article
With the start of Spring and the coming of Summer, this weekend presents us with a baseball movie and an action-adventure set in the Sahara desert. Baseball or hot desert sand, which will critics choose?

After headlining the surprisingly successful romantic comedy “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” Matthew McConaughey tries his hand at action-adventure with “Sahara.” He takes on the role of a master explorer who embarks on a treasure hunt through some of the most dangerous regions of West Africa. Joining him in the adventure are Penelope Cruz and Steve Zahn. Critics didn’t think much of last year’s similarly themed, Nicolas Cage adventurer “National Treasure,” which only received recommendations from 40% of the critics. “Sahara” didn’t fare much better. As of this writing, its Tomatometer reads 42%. This is a well below Matthew McConaughey’s average Tomatometer of 56%. Some of the national print, online, and broadcast critics think it’s mindless fun; others think its just mindless.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. After his big screen debut with Queen Latifah "Taxi" got hammered by critics with a 10% on the Tomatometer and didn’t make much of an impression at the box office, Jimmy Fallon tries his luck with Drew Barrymore and the Farrelly brothers in a romantic comedy about a man who must choose between the two loves of his life – The Boston Red Sox and his girlfriend. Between “Fever Pitch” and “Taxi,” the choice isn’t as tough for critics though. As of this writing, “Fever Pitch” scored a Fresh 66% on the Tomatometer, a major improvement over “Taxi.” It’s above Drew Barrymore’s average Tomatometer of 56%. Although critics don't think there are enough laughs or chemistry between the leads to make it a home run, the movie is sweet, likable and does a great job of showing what it means to be an obsessed fan.

While "Fever Pitch" has its share of problems, it looks like the film has the slight edge with critics this weekend.

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Comments (1-6 of 6 posts) | Reply
renodc
renodc writes:
on Apr 07 2005 09:04 PM

I'm a big Clive Cussler fan and I'm really hoping that Sahara will be faithful to the book, but I'm not holding my breath, especially since it's a Disney film and it's directed by Michael Eisner's son.

Fever Pitch looks like pure crap.


(Reply to this)
clamity8u
clamity8u writes:
on Apr 08 2005 12:59 AM

Disney? Its not Disney.

It's Paramount.


(Reply to this)
jeanpaul
jeanpaul writes:
on Apr 08 2005 02:59 AM

[b]Whatever.[/b]
Yeah, whatever... Personally, when considering the BIG screen viewing experience, I'd still prefer to waste money on an MINDLESS Adventure flick. Now, that's just so critics know this.


(Reply to this)
renodc
renodc writes:
on Apr 09 2005 09:30 AM

In reply to this comment (#821222)
My bad. I thought I had read that Disney was in some way involved in this film, but I was apparently wrong.

(Reply to this)
jeanfc
jeanfc writes:
on Apr 10 2005 12:01 PM

[b]What Crap[/b]
I've noticed that Rotten Tomatoes has recently began predicting how movies will fare over weekends with all sorts of so-called data from critics and whatnot. Maybe the crappy result of Fever Pitch over the weekend will shut the critics up.

"Critical Concensus" my sweet...


(Reply to this)
The Senhman
The Senhman writes:
on Apr 11 2005 01:53 AM

In reply to this comment (#821225)
This is just a weekly summary of reviews, not a box office prediction. The two are obviously very different. Although Fever Pitch is better reviewed than Sahara, I wouldn't predict that it would do better at the box office.

(Reply to this)
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