Big Fan Review

Posted by George H. Sirois on 08.28.2009

Part wish fulfillment, part cautionary tale…



I don’t remember who said this - it was probably Alyssa Milano – but whoever it was, they were dead-on accurate. When you become a fan of a sports team, it’s very hard to stop being a fan. When you fully give your heart to something that you have absolutely no control over, you become something that non-fans just cannot comprehend. You will do things and say things that are absolutely sick and vile to other people that you don’t even know but you just don’t like since they’re wearing a different colored jersey than you in the stands. When your team has another team on the ropes and the other team comes back and wins, you don’t think a second thought about punching a hole in your wall (like when the Giants lost to the Titans in overtime 32-29 on Dec. 1, 2002). And when similar bad things happen to your team, you’re bummed for the rest of the day, but after a little while, you get through it and move on.

That’s the case with normal people, but Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) does not have that luxury, as we see in Robert Siegel’s new film Big Fan. One of the Grand Jury Prize nominees in this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this film introduces us to Paul, a 36-year-old garage attendant in Staten Island who still lives at home with his mom, has one friend who worships him (Kevin Corrigan) and lives for one and only one thing: the New York Giants. He spends his time at work writing out exactly what he’s going to say on the radio show hosted by The Sports Dogg (Scott Ferrall, “who knew?!”) and wages a weekly war of words on the show with a caller known only as “Philadelphia Phil” (Michael Rapaport). For Paul, life begins and ends between September and January and that’s perfectly fine with him, despite his brother being a successful lawyer. You couldn’t ask for a more isolated human being than Paul, living in Staten Island and working in a garage attendant’s box.

But Paul’s life turns upside down when he and his friend Sal see Paul’s favorite player Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm) at a gas station in Staten Island. Instead of talking to him right there in the parking lot, they chicken out and follow Bishop’s car all the way to a strip club in Manhattan. He finally works up the nerve to say hello to Bishop, but a misunderstanding results in Paul getting the living crap beat out of him by his favorite player. When Paul wakes up, he’s in the hospital, Bishop is suspended and the Giants gave up 41 points to the Chiefs. All of a sudden, it’s not a good time to be a Giants fan and it’s an even worse time to be THIS Giants fan.

Last year, we Giants fans had to deal with losing Plaxico Burress for the season. After shooting himself in the leg, the team won only one more game and made an early exit. Just imagine if it was a fan that caused Burress to get suspended instead of his own stupidity. It would have been like the Steve Bartman fiasco in Chicago all over again, and that’s what Paul is left with here. If he comes out and fesses up, he would forever be looked at as the guy who sunk the Giants’ division and playoff hopes for the season.

I’ve been a fan of Patton Oswalt’s work since his stand-up days, and as Paul, he gives a powerhouse performance in this film. We all have something that we’re passionate about, and Oswalt brings that passion to its boiling point. Even if he’s not a Giants fan, or even a football fan, he comes across as one very convincingly. We see him yelling at the screen, embracing his friend during a good game, walking around in a daze during a bad game, everything that a fan does. He nails it here, and writer/director Robert Siegel creates such a wonderfully pathetic character that fans can immediately find the good in while non-fans will likely look at the bad in him.

This is the main selling point for me regarding Big Fan. It may seem like it caters only to sports fans with its constant emphasis on the teams and the rivalry among the fanbases – I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Michael Rapaport playing such a perfect Eagles fan as Philadelphia Phil that I wanted to punch him – but it also plays up how non-fans just don’t get this fascinating world of sports fandom and don’t want to get it. To them, Paul is just a loser who won’t start living his own life, and Oswalt plays both sides of this coin wonderfully just like the rest of the cast fit their parts like a glove. Marcia Jean Kurtz and Gino Cafarelli are fantastic as Paul’s mother and brother who have no qualms giving tough love. Kevin Corrigan makes the perfect lapdog for Paul, hanging on his every word, and Scott Ferrall is the ideal choice to play the moderator between Paul and Philadelphia Phil.

Just like with The Wrestler last year, Siegel tells a fascinating story about a down-on-his-luck character hoping for something better to come along. While this one isn’t quite as good overall since the Darren Aronofsky film gives us a character that actually does something with himself instead of living through others, it still gives a good hard look at one of the many people in the stands or watching on television, living and dying with the team they love. Paul is allowed his share of moments of glory that can make any fan wish they could do what he did, but his life is also a cautionary tale since it shows the tragedy of what the world can look like when it passes you by while you’re still 36 and living at home.

The 411: If I were to properly recommend Big Fan, it would be for sports fans to watch it together and then for the non-sports fans to watch it together. They’ll both have something different to take away from it, and the discussions about what it means to be a hardcore sports fan will be very interesting to hear. Both groups, however, will agree that this is a very well-written and well-directed film with a terrific centerpiece performance by Patton Oswalt. Giants fans, Eagles fans and any other NFL fan should check this out…

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]