Big Fan

Summary

“He was rusty.”

In my estimation, writer/director Robert Siegel is extremely talented. His screenplay for John Lee Hancock’s film The Founder floored me. The writing was absolutely phenomenal and sent me down the rabbit-hole of reading Ray Kroc’s book Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s which remains a favorite to this day. The Founder was one of my favorite pictures of 2016 and it ranks as one of my favorite films of the last decade. Eight years earlier, his screenplay for The Wrestler led to an triumphant critical response for director Darren Aronofsky and actor Mickey Rourke. It gave Mickey Rourke another chance at stardom. In 2009, Robert Siegel was given the chance to direct his screenplay for a character study he had written called Big Fan. The film was modestly budgeted and was well reviewed, but it didn’t drum up much attention at the box office. Over the years, it has developed a small cult following, especially amongst film lovers that also enjoy sports. When I saw that Shout! Factory was giving the film a Blu-ray release, I was more than happy to check it out.

In Staten Island, Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswald) is a die-hard fan of the New York Giants. He works in a parking garage, lives with his mother, and only really lives to catch the Giants games and to phone in to a radio show to talk sports. He writes his diatribes down and rehearses them to talk smack in particular to an Eagles fan who also calls in named Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport.) Paul’s best friend Sal (Kevin Corrigan) loves his radio speeches, and they catch the games together. Their friendship is firmly rooted in their love for the Giants, and they both are single and without much promise. Paul’s brother Jeff (Gino Cafarelli) is an ambulance chasing lawyer who married his secretary, but he is the apple of his mom’s eye. Paul is basically a black sheep. While out one night, Sal and Paul see the Giants quarterback Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm) out with some of his guys. They can’t resist the urge to see where he goes and they follow him all the way from Staten Island to Manhattan and end up at a club. Sal and Paul spy on the quarterback and his crew drinking and vibing from a booth nearby. They send a beer over. After a few moments they approach the superstar and his crew. When Quantrell realizes that they had followed them there, beleive them to be stalkers, he reacts violently. He beats Paul unconscious. Paul awakens three days later. His brain had bled, and he has been harmed. To make things worse, the Giants lost their game without Quantrell. Paul faces a moral dilemma of whether he should turn evidence against the man who harmed him, or whether he should stay silent so the Giants can stand a chance. The film’s plot builds from there.

First off, I should mention that I love watching football. My oldest son and I watch a lot of NFL and NCAA football and we love to discuss the players and the games with one another. We own a number of jerseys and T-shirts of our favorite teams, and can be found most weekends wearing them while cheering on our favorite teams. It has served as a bonding experience for both of us. I understand completely what it is to be a fan, and I understand what it is to be a fanatic. This film is about the worst type of fandom.

This is a film about a loser. I mean, Paul lives with his mother in his thirties, has a dead-end job, and has no prospects whatsoever nor any drive to achieve anything other than being a super fan for the Giants. Paul still manages to be holier-than-thou regarding his more successful brother (deservedly so, but how can you throw stones while living with your mom?) I tend to like movies that focus on fairly pathetic characters, and Big Fan delivered the goods. The script is unpredictable, darkly funny at times, and it builds to an intense finale that I appreciated. The picture is definitely going to be an acquired taste that will not appeal to audiences that can only root for winners, but for audiences that enjoy character studies of losers (think Taxi Driver if it was about a sports fan) Big Fan will be a lot of fun. It also is one of the best movies I have seen about the experience of football fandom. I know firsthand the joy of going to a football game and tailgating, and this picture captures that experience really well.

The performances in Big Fan are uniformly very good to excellent. Patton Oswalt is an unlikely candidate to play a true sports freak, but he pulls the role off well. It is a real showcase for his talents and made me appreciate him more as an actor. Kevin Corrigan is a great choice to play Paul’s best friend Sal. He looks the part and carries the role well. Michael Rapaport has the perfect voice for playing a loud and abrasive sports fan. Everyone else in the supporting cast does well in their role.

The direction by Robert Siegel is a little rough around the edges but shows promise for the screenwriter. I felt like some of the blocking of shots looked a little wonky, but maybe that was intentional. He draws good performances from the actors, but some of the cinematography reminded me of IPhone cinematography. That said, this film was also shot just a decade into everything moving digital, so I think those few wonky shots can be forgiven as being indicative of the times in which Big Fan was filmed.

Overall – I really enjoyed Big Fan. Robert Siegel is a hell of a writer and his directorial debut is a well done character study with a satisfying finale.

Video

Big Fan has been released onto Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in 1080p. The film was shot digital film using a Red One camera in 2009, and mastered digitally. The film for the most part looks pretty good, albeit there are a few moments where Robert Siegel’s blocking just seems off (as I mentioned above.) Aside from a few clumsy camera setup missteps, the film has nice natural feel for the type of realism it shoots for. Fans of the picture should be pleased with how the film looks on Blu-ray, and any compression issues or visual anomalies are probably derived from the digital source. Unless the film is brought to 4K UHD, this is probably going to be the best way to view the picture.

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track sounds pretty good as well. The film has a few solid moments with songs by John Cale, Helen Reddy, and a great song in the credits by John Prine. During Paul’s interaction at the club, some Krayzee Bone and Tech N9ne songs play. The track is pretty immersive given it is a modestly budgeted character study. Dialogue is rendered clearly. I have no qualms with this track.

Supplements:

• Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video: 4.25/5

Audio: 4.5/5

Supplements: 1/5

Overall – 3.75/5

Big Fan is a satisfying character study from writer/director Robert Siegel. While the picture never matches the brilliance of his screenplays for The Wrestler or The Founder, Big Fan is a darkly funny look into the life of a sports fanatic. Patton Oswalt is very good in the role of Paul, and the supporting cast (including Kevin Corrigan and Michael Rapaport) is capable. The only downside to the picture is that some of the shot blocking lacks a cinematic quality, but that is not a huge critique given that it was Siegel’s directorial debut. The Shout! Factory disc provides the film with solid technical specs, but the lack of supplements is a little disappointing.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.