Steve Pulaski
Patton Oswalt's Paul Aufiero is a depressing character to focus on for a full eighty-six minutes. He's a lonely man in his late thirties, living with his mother, making end's meet as a parking garage attendant where he spends his time either sulking at the loneliness of it all or jotting down notes while listening to the broadcast of the New York Giants game so that he can read them aloud on a radio show later that night. Yes, Paul is a "big fan" of the New York Giants, and his devotion is incorruptible, even when the unthinkable happens.But before I blaze that trail, I return to my point about the notes, which Paul turns into a lengthy rant about how well the Giants played during the game. He will go on to read the rant live on his favorite radio program, hosted by "Sports Dogg," under the ambiguous name of "Paul from Staten Island," where he frequently exchanges punches with "Philadelphia Phil," a frequent caller into the sports station to praise the Philadelphia Eagles and slander the Giants. On the phone, Paul sounds like a totally different man. Not a depressed and listless man in his thirties who resides with his mother, and not a man of no further ambition. Just a passionate and quirky outsider who shows true commitment to what he loves, which is sports. He's the kind of guy you'd want on your side for moral support and a working set of ears.Paul's only friend is Sal (Kevin Corrigan), and the two show invaluable bonding when they tailgate during the Giants home games and run a long extension cord through their car in order to sit outside the stadium and watch the game happening feet away from them on a puny little antenna TV. One day, Paul and Sal spot Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm), the Giants quarterback, and his faithful entourage in Staten Island and, in a starstruck-haze, decide to follow him to see if they can snag an autograph or exchange some words. They drive through a bad neighborhood, where Bishop picks up something that likely isn't the most legal thing on the market, and they wind up at a strip club, where the two friends get the courage to walk over and talk to them.Bishop views them as two loner geeks interrupting his night, and things get rough when Paul accidentally brings up the part about him driving through a rough neighborhood. Bishop assumes they were being followed and, in a fit of rage, beats poor Paul to a pulp and is left unconscious for three days until he wakes up in a hospital bed. There, Paul is informed that his personal-injury lawyer brother (Gino Cafarelli) is ready and willing to cook up a lawsuit, and that an NYPD detective (Matt Servitto) wants to get all the details of what exactly happened the night of the altercation. The problem is that Paul doesn't want to remember what happened that night. To him, Quantrell, regardless of what he did to Paul and how badly he left him damaged, he just wants to move on with his life, unburdened by the incident, and not have his love for the New York Giants soiled by this one unfortunate mishap. Only the conflicts this poses on his family begin to come out of the woodwork. His mother begins to bring up the fact that he is a lonely man, desperately searching for companionship and his brother can not fathom the idea that Paul would not want to pursue a court case or a lawsuit against Quantrell.Patton Oswalt gives what I call a career making performance in Big Fan. A performance just subtle enough that you may overlook it, yet just powerful enough to you will remember it. Oswalt, rarely leaving frame at all here, is so deeply sympathetic and easy to feel for in this film. But why? The look in his eyes in numerous scenes (take the excitement and expression in his face when he's "Paul from Staten Island" for example, or even when he is being lectured by his mother in the car after his brother's party) often accentuates the feeling of misery or dim joy. He is a figure that we understand his moral position, but question his decision not to move forward with a lawsuit against Quantrell regardless of the "idol-status" he has obtained in Paul's heart.It is questions like this that are too psychologically complex to answer without oversimplifying and that is what makes Patton Oswalt's character and performance so memorable. We can side with him only to an extent before he makes the decision to move forward and move on from his current problem. I was stunned that director Robert D. Siegel (former editor in chief for the fake newspaper "The Onion") took this material with such depth, heart, and seriousness. Big Fan is a film detailing the dark side of spectator sports, a multi-billion dollar industry that focuses on those who put on a jersey to play and make millions and those who buy overpriced tickets to games in the exact same jerseys that were sold in order to continue fueling the pockets of those involved in the industry. It is arguably one of the finest dramas of the 2009 year, and one of the films Oswalt should view with great pride.Starring: Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Rapaport, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Matt Servitto, Serafina Fiore, Gino Cafarelli, Jonathan Hamm, Polly Humphreys, and Scott Ferrall. Directed by: Robert D. Siegel.
oneguyrambling
This might very well be a prime example of fine film-making but that doesn't make it enjoyable to watch. Every year's Academy Awards nomination list is full of films with "stories that need to be told" and "fearless performances that demand attention", but in the main I watch movies for enjoyment, and if I must learn something it better be important.Watching Big Fan all I learned is that there are a lot more sporting die-hards out there, and that some take their obsession way too far.The story is simplicity itself.A normal everyday man in his late 30s (?) named Paul lives and dies by the success or failure of his sporting team, (in this case the New York Giants). His entire life revolves around following the team, predicting the outcome of future matches and playoff positioning, and trashing the unfortunate supporters of other teams who dare exhibit similar passion for other clubs.(I know some of these guys in real life. Hell in some ways I am parts of this guy and millions of similar guys whose personal satisfaction is somehow impacted by the performance of others.) Paul's life is thrown into turmoil when an encounter with his favourite player goes sour, and Paul ends up in hospital, only he feels guilt that he somehow caused his team suffering by the negative publicity created through the skirmish.Of course there is more to it than just that, but everything else that happens brings the plot back to those two things, (1) Paul's love and obsession for his team; and (2) the conflicting emotions that being beaten up by a member of that team brings.Much has been written about Patton Oswalt's performance as the obsessive and mildly pathetic Paul, and most of it is full of praise. (I'm a big Patton fan by the way and his name on the box was the reason I hunted this down in the first place, so I should be a sympathizer.) However after the credits rolled I felt strangely underwhelmed by the whole 100 minutes I had just sat through. In fact my initial impression was "Is that it??" After ruminating about it overnight I realized that this was one case where the consensus seemed about right, the movie itself was very basic and in (a great) many ways filled with logic and plot holes, but even though I never felt that Paul was anything less than deserving of his fate I tried to see things from his point of view.But does this mean Patton Oswalt was any good? I think yes, as with such a simple story anything less than a strong performance would lose the audience from the get go.From the first grandiose calls full of faux-macho posturing to the sports talk-back station in which simultaneously lauds his team while taking potshots at their nemesis.From Paul's first tailgate party outside the NFL arena that ended with him and his mate watching the game on a crappy TV still in car park while the actual game went on only metres away in the stadium.From the first time his conniving lawyer brother tries to convince him to sue the player, only to be met with defiance, as doing so would hurt the team.At every stage if Patton wasn't believable then the audience would quickly realize that they were watching a crappy film, as there are no jokes to fill the slow parts, and no action to move the pace along.In the past I have thought that saying "the movie sucks but this guy was good" was simply sticking up for someone that they liked who chose to act in a sucky movie, Denzel Washington (Training Day), Tom Hanks (Castaway) and Will Smith (I Am Legend) seem to get these judgment calls all the time as in real life they are so seemingly likable that bagging them might seem nasty. I mean everyone has to act in a dodgy film every now and then right? In this case though I have to agree that Patton Oswalt's performance deserves more merit than the film, but that doesn't change the fact that I think Big Fan is still really a dodgy film in essence and I find it hard to recommend.So perhaps it might be more apt for me to say "Even though Big Fan isn't very entertaining, it would have been worse if it wasn't for Patton Oswalt's efforts in making Paul more believable.There. I think I can sleep at night now.Note: It is also worth noting that despite being a movie that revolves around sport, you don't see a single NFL logo on display, nor a moment of actual sports action through the film.Final Rating - 6.5 / 10. Sport is still great. Here is a movie with sport at the core that really isn't, regardless of what movie critics might say.If you liked this review (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com
