Criticature: "Big Fan" -- 8/11/10

Wait a minute...this isn't Jersey Shore!?

I’m going to be upfront with you, dear reader. I am not “a sports guy”. Though I’d like to be, I’ve found I have neither the knack for or the kind of passion needed to sustain such a love. But that’s not to say it’s somehow invalid of my respect and admiration; this idea of competition. The clash of titans. Autumn thunder and such. But the debut film “Big Fan” by Robert Siegel (who penned a similarly gritty drama, “The Wrestler”, back in 2008) is not about any heavyweight athlete. Ironically it’s about one of the ‘little people’ that follows the titans. A fan.

Who’d have guessed, right?

It’s the story of down-and-out NY football devotee Paul Aufiero (Oswalt), a pudgy, motor-mouthed fanatic who is so passionate about the game that he has no problem with rehearsing his talk radio battles on legal pads t in the middle of the night or sitting out every game in the parking lot of Giants Stadium listening to the game via short-wave.

But this is precisely what makes “Big Fan” great. Though outwardly it doesn’t seem to aspire for much, there’s a very complex character study underway. And it’s done so in a manner which doesn’t patronize people invest so much love and energy in the game. So while the movie is ostensibly about a Giants fan who gets beaten to within an inch of his life by his favorite player (and subsequently has to re-examine his entire existence because of it), the movie speaks to the darker side of that love in a way that is both knowing and hilariousl.

It’s the typical head-in-the-sand routine but Oswalt plays his character with such careful dignity, with such brooding, mopey intensity that it manages to play when it very well shouldn’t. Considering the minimalist style, the somewhat slow pace and the heaviness of the dialogue, one might expect the movie to fail. And yet somehow it scores with 3 seconds left on the clock. Siegel creates this diverse little world in which jargon is paramount and where music is never the key to the emotions; rather the static of Sports Dogg’s radio show is, echoing through Paul’s blue-collar haunts like the monkey on his shoulder begging for another fix.

I won’t reveal anything too big but the movie takes you right to the brink and then holds off just at the right minute. Right before you sacrifice those careful, hard-won mercies to cynical repose, we're allowed to connect with the fan in a way that an instant replay never could. This is both heartfelt satire at it's best.

****

Written & Directed by:
Robert D. Siegel

Producers:
Elan Bogarin
Jean Kouremetis
Jessica Cassimatis............................co-executive producer
Johnny Cassimatis.............................co-executive producer
Jen Cohn......................................executive producer
Nick Gallo....................................associate producer
Mike Loew.....................................associate producer
Joan Siegel...................................co-associate producer
Joshua Trank..................................co-producer

Cast:
Patton Oswalt.................................Paul Aufiero
Kevin Corrigan................................Sal
Michael Rapaport..............................Philadelphia Phil
Marcia Jean Kurtz.............................Paul's Mom
Serafina Fiore................................Gina Aufiero
Gino Cafarelli................................Jeff Aufiero
Jonathan Hamm.................................Quantrell Bishop
Matt Servitto.................................Detective Velarde
Joe Garden....................................Dennis
Polly Humphreys...............................Christine
Sidné Anderson................................Hospital Doctor
Julian Lane...................................Birthday Boy
Caroline Gallo................................Gina and Jeff Daughter
Maya Louise Dispenza..........................Christine and Dennis Daughter
Cookie Bradshaw...............................Law-Office Ad Woman
Malik Jacobs..................................Shady House Guy