Movie_Muse_Reviews As sports fans, we always consider the degree to which we support or dedicate ourselves to the team. "Big Fan" is a character study of a man who has formed his identity and life around the New York Giants. The film preys on our expectation that every fan has a clear line when it's time to stop being a fan and start being your own person. That's not true of Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt).The concept of building a film around this type of character allows "Big Fan" to explore the notion of sports psychosis. Writer, director and former Onion editor-in-chief Robert D. Siegel clearly understands that sports films haven't gone in this direction and he already demonstrated the chops to handle unique sports-devoted characters in creating Randy "The Ram" Robinson of Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler." In "Fan," his directorial debut, too much of good film convention is sacrificed to create Paul's psychological profile.The best way to describe Siegel's error with the film is that it never goes straight down the path carved out by the set-up. Paul works a job as a parking lot attendant, but off the clock (and back home with his mother) he calls in regularly to his favorite nighttime sports radio program to defend the Giants and talk smack about the Philadelphia Eagles. His favorite player is a defensive lineman named Quantrell Bishop, so instinctively when glimpsing Bishop at a gas station, Paul and his best friend follow him. He ends up at a nightclub and when Bishop suspects him of stalking, he pummels him within an inch of his life.The expectation is that the film will skyrocket from there. The press are sure to be busting down his door, the police will be on his case, etc. The aftermath is much tamer. The press apparently don't even have his name and on three separate occasions, a detective comes to question him only for Paul to say he "doesn't remember" when the truth is he wants Bishop back on the field so that the Giants can continue pursuing the division championship. The movie never really picks up in pace and disappoints in that regard.It's also hard to cozy up to Paul's mindset. Most people wouldn't let even their sports hero walk away if he nearly killed them, at least not without some kind of apology or settlement. He just wants to go back to being an average Giants fan. That's all he wants in this film. He doesn't want to live on his own, get a real job or make millions in a personal injury suit that his brother wants him to file. There's not having traditional values and denouncing the life that your family wants you to lead, but then there's Paul -- an intriguing but fallible concept.The biggest sin of Siegel's story is how it veers away from being about either rectification of the assault or how Paul's life is being forced in a direction he can't cope with as a result. Instead it's about getting back at the Eagles fan (Michael Rapaport) who calls in to Paul's favorite show and trash-talks. Sure, Siegel's point is to show how Paul wants to be a devoted fan above anything else in his life, but in route to telling us that, a lot of basic storytelling principles are violated and for a plot of this magnitude, "Big Fan" is strangely quiet.~Steven CVisit my site http://moviemusereviews.com

julian kennedy Big Fan: 6 out of 10: This is Precious for white people. Same collection of overweight pathetic losers, same overt racial stereotypes (assuming Guidos are a race, which I believe technically they are. An offshoot of Oompa Loompa line if I recall correctly), and the same is this supposed to be funny moments.But instead of wallowing in the ethnocentric misery of rape, incest, AIDS, illiteracy, and stealing fried chicken of Precious. Big Fan deals with that most tragic of stories; the lifelong Giants fan.Talented comedian Patton Oswalt plays the schlub with such spot on dramatic conviction that the film has no hope of being a comedy or for that matter being feel good and redemptive. We are in for the long haul and we know this isn't going to turn out well. (A feeling Giants fans should be familiar with.) The film is shot with a seventies eye and is directed by Robert Siegel (in his directing debut) who wrote the quite funny Onion Movie and surprisingly uplifting The Wrestler. The plot follows the actions of Oswalt, a 35 year old loser that still lives with his mother and works as a parking lot attendant. His only outlet is as a caller to the Sports Dog show as Paul from Staten Island where he reads of a carefully crafted notebook of clichés, and battles his nemesis, a caller from Philly.That is the entirety of his life till one night he and his friend run into the Giants star linebacker at a gas station. (The linebacker is nicknamed QB which confused more than one non-sports fan movie reviewer).So they follow Lawrence Taylor (excuse me QB) to a dodgy part of Staten Island where he appears to pick up some drugs and then follow him into Manhattan to the nudie bar Scores (excuse me a Scores like club). He and his friend eventually confront their hero at the nudie bar looking for an autograph where the paranoid QB, thinking they may be stalking him for a shakedown, beats Oswalt into a three day coma.And there is the conundrum. Does Oswalt press charges and sue therefore perhaps getting the means to better his life (and for that matter afford actual Giants tickets rather than watching them from the parking lot every Sunday), or does he claim amnesia and QB will be eligible to play again for the Giants as they head towards the post season.The film has some missteps in the second half as director Siegal struggles with some of the second half plot twists that take away from the gritty realism of the first half. In addition, while the acting and casting is top notch across the board; some of the characters themselves are stereotypes so broad they seem to border on parody.I like football and sports gives guys something to talk about. It is a much safer small talk subject than religion, politics or how I would like to sleep with your wife. I have never understood however the "Sports Fan" as depicted here, but I do understand the need to find a creative outlet in a pathetic dead-end life….Excuse me I have to cry myself to sleep now.

Michael O'Keefe Exceptional. A bit pathetic, but a very good sports related drama. Paul Aufiero(Patton Oswalt)is more than just a big fan of the New York Giants; he is sometimes an irrational fan out of control. Paul still lives at home with his mom and has a dead end job...he seems to have minimal ambition. This big fan never misses a Giant's game; he's usually watching the game on TV... in the parking lot. Paul spends most of his day composing his rant for the call-in radio sports show; and he wastes no time hating Philadelphia Phil(Michael Rapaport). These two super fans taunt each other the air waves...until Paul loses control and puts on his 'war paint' and goes out to prove his allegiance and undying devotion for his team.This probably isn't meant to be funny; in a sympathetic way it is. Other players: Kevin Corrigan, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Matt Servito and Gino Cafereli.

manicman84 Big Fan stands as a profound and thoroughly remarkable character study marked by a magnetic performance of Patton Oswalt. He excels as Paul Aufiero, a life-long fan of New York Giants being brutally hit by one of Giants' top players in a strip club. Oswalt is equally sympathetic and believable starring as this deeply troubled character. His performance is the chief, but thankfully not the only reason to see Big Fan. Writer-director Robert Siegel regards the sports fanaticism as an addiction and that gives his film the necessary gravitas: its power and its credibility. The script is devoid of clichés with many well-observed situations thrown in and several ingenious twists you won't see coming. As a result, you observe Paul falling into decay with great anxiety combined with care. Siegel crafts a subversive comedy, funny and bleak in equal measures. It also works as a peculiar take on the pathology of sports mania.