It’s a common conundrum — boy meets girl, they fall in love, and one person slowly finds themselves giving up who they are to better mesh with the relationship.

At what point does compromise become submission? At what point should one give up a passion for the sake of love? And by giving up your passion, are you giving up yourself, or are you evolving as a person?

Are you a better person for compromising yourself to make the one you love happy? Or are you just weak and ball-less?

Based on the book by Nick Hornby, a great knower of modern man, “Fever Pitch” addresses the ubiquitous dilemma of the modern relationship. Ben, played by the perfectly skittish Jimmy Fallon, is the most passionate of Red Sox fans — the “I haven’t missed a game in 11 years and I call my neighbors in the seats around me my summer family” kind of Red Sox fan.

Lindsey, played by Drew Barrymore, is a 90-hour-week workaholic, who finds herself giving up her work for her new love Ben — and his old love of the Sox. After trying to reassert her identity as a career girl, their relationship begins to fall apart.

Hornby poses an interesting notion: Whose obsession is more legitimate? Lindsey seems to be the good guy in all of this because her obsession is based on her career, while Ben’s is based on “just a game.”

But what makes a childhood passion for a tradition based on culture and history less valid than a passion for work? Lindsey’s passion is just as disruptive and time-consuming as Ben’s passion for the game.

In an age where most, if not all, romantic comedies are based on the plight of the woman — typically a single thirtysomething in a big city — Hornby’s perspective on the single thirtysomething male is what makes his other stories like “High Fidelity” so intriguing.

Hornby is careful to make no pretense of perfection in his characters — Ben is neurotic and slightly insecure, yet good-natured and well-intended. Lindsey is a workhorse and a bit of a snob, but thoughtful and loving. The dilemma arises in the dissonance between committing to another person and figuring out why a ball game is more important than a weekend in Paris.

So what is the answer? How does one hold on to his or her identity and find a way to make room for another person? According to Hornby, no two people will perfectly complement each other’s interests — there will always be frustration, hurt feelings and resistance to change.

It seems that the key, though, is finding the person who loves you so much they will give up anything for you, and then loving them back so passionately that you won’t let them.