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The Wrestler writer Robert Siegel becomes a Big Fan

First of all, I want to state that I am no fan of professional sports.  I loved playing football, basketball and baseball as a kid.  I supported with glee my high school and college teams teams.  But once all the money and lack of team fidelity got involved, I lost all interest.  When you play just for a paycheck, its just a job.  And like a job, when someone offers you more money, loyalty is out the door. 

With that said, even non-sports fans can find the obsessive tale of Big Fan as an interesting character study.  Patton Oswalt is Paul, a guy who works at a parking garage but is a possessed Giants fan.  He constantly listens to the local sports talk radio and writes down his comments, practicing before he calls in just to make his points more poignant.  His big competition on the air is Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport) a guy who calls in on a regular basis to taunt the Giants fans about how great his Eagles are. 

Paul and his best buddy Sal (Kevin Corrigan) go to the Giants games every week, but they don’t go inside.  They watch the game in the parking lot on a half way to busted TV.  Paul’s mom (a wonderful Marcia Jean Kurtz) is worried about her son and feels that he just doesn’t have a life.  His brothers are both successful with one being an ambulance chasing lawyer.

One day. Paul and Sal spot their favorite player gassing up his SUV and follow the guy into Mid-Town Manhattan to a strip club.  After getting up the courage, they send him over a drink and decide it is the right time to approach the Giant.  A misunderstanding causes the player and his buddies to beat Paul senseless, putting him in the hospital.  This beating causes a suspension of the player.

Now, Paul must decide if he wants to have his hero prosecuted.  If this happens, the Giants will not make it to the playoffs.  It is a dark tale into what is more important in a persons life, his own existence or his team winning.

Patton Oswalt is just brilliant as Paul, a small man who lives his life in the shadow of his team.  He never sees what everyone else sees, that he has no life.  There is this sad quality in his acting where every look is a heartbreaking experience.  His facial expressions almost hark back to the golden age of silent comics where one glance could take the place of a thousand words.  This role should give him more interest in Hollywood. 

The film is directed by The Wrestler scribe Robert Siegel and it covers some of the same ground.  We see the downside of sport.  Both films show a different aspect of the obsession of sport and the victims that sport brings.  With Big Fan he shows a knack for subtly with his characters but he just doesn’t have the story or the acting prowess of a Mickey Rourke. 

Big Fan is a dark journey into fan obsession and the role that professional sport plays in society.  While in no way a perfect film, it is a very watchable experience. 

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