We all know guys like Paul Aufiero(Patton Oswalt). He's that guy who's life seems to revolve around his favorite sports team. He's not quite the same person during the off-season, bordering on depressed. He's the guy at the Raider game dressed like a silver & black viking warrior, and if you're like me you often wonder what the hell these guys wouldn't do for their team? Oftentimes it seems like these fans(short for fanatics for a reason) don't have anything else to live for other than those 3 hours on Sunday afternoon.
Paul Aufiero is one of those men. A lowly parking garage attendant by day, crazed New York Giants fan by night. He pumps himself up each night, cashing in what bits of acclaim he can by calling in regularly on a local sports radio show as "Paul from Staten Island". Paul is a hero of sorts to his meek follower of a best friend, Sal(Kevin Corrigan), who thinks Paul's rants over the radio are the stuff of legend. Paul's formed a bitter on-air rivalry with the mysterious "Philadelphia Phil" who trashes the Giants and Paul every night.
Paul's life is mostly pathetic. He lives with his disapproving mother in a room barely big enough for a child, his wall covered in boyish posters of his favorite player, Quantrell Bishop. His fascination with Bishop seems to go beyond fanaticism, bordering on homosexual, but it's a bridge that's never fully crossed. Paul's family berates him constantly over his life choices. He has no girlfriend, no women in his life at all. He has no motivation. He's basically a child in a really short man's body. As fate would have it, Paul and Sal happen upon Quantrell Bishop out late on the town. Making the extremely unwise decision to follow him across the state(!!) to a nightclub, Bishop and his posse accuse the two fans of being stalkers. Paul is beaten down mercilessly. Bishop is suspended from the NFL. Paul gets some much needed nap time and a chance to count the cracks in the hospital ceiling. The question becomes whether Paul has it within him to press charges against the man he idolizes, adversely affecting his beloved Giants.
Writer/director Robert Siegel explored the dark corners of fame addiction with his amazing, gritty film The Wrestler last year. Consider Big Fan to be it's more twisted cousin, as he breaks down some of the blackest aspects of hero worship. Unlike the Wrestler, Siegel isn't nearly the gifted director Darren Aronofsky was. The film tries to capture the lower middle class mystique of urban New Jersey but it just comes out flatter here. The dull lighting and straight ahead shooting style leads to some pretty lackluster sequences, particularly involving Paul's family. I'm not going to say that they can't act...but they can't act. Paul's brother Sal has a faux Italian mobster accent that makes me think he was an extra in Jay Mohr's Mafia! It's Oswalt who carries this film. He completely melts into the character, showing a depth of emotion I never knew he had.
Big Fan isn't a comedy, although it has it's moments. Don't go in expecting to laugh out loud too often. This thing is pretty friggin' bleak and depressing more often than not. But it also gets pretty intense and uncomfortable. If the acting and direction were stronger, this would be an amazing film. As it stands it's still very good and worth checking out, and if you see any similarities between yourself and Paul Aufiero, there's a nice big listing for psychiatrists in your local phone book.
7/10
