Big Fan

Screenwriter Robert D. Siegel (The Wrestler) offers another gritty character study set on the fringes of the sports world, this time taking viewers into the milieu of pro football—focusing not on the pigskin superstars but on obsessive and pathetic fans. Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) is a Staten Island schlub whose sole joy is cheering for the New York Giants and calling a local sports show to rant against Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport), a loudmouth follower of the Giants' hated rivals, the Eagles. Paul lives with his nagging mother (Marcia Jean Kurtz) and attends the games with a buddy named Sal (Kevin Corrigan). Unable to afford tickets, the pair sit in the parking lot, watching the action on a black-and-white TV and screaming as though they were in the stands. One night the two glimpse their linebacker idol and follow him to a strip club, but when they try to approach him, the player attacks Paul, who winds up in the hospital. The dramatic question here is whether Paul will take legal action that would threaten not only his hero's career but his team's playoff chances in a story that turns somewhat creepy when Paul travels to Philadelphia to track down the much-despised Phil. Big Fan, which Siegel also directed, isn't going to lift your spirits; nor does it offer the suggestion of redemption found in The Wrestler. Rather, it's an unflinching portrait of a loser not so much trapped in a dead-end life as unwilling to escape, with a spot-on performance by Oswalt as the sadly realistic protagonist. Recommended. (F. Swietek)