Director: Robert Siegel
Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) lives a double life: one, a 35-year-old schlub who lives with his mother and works as a parking garage attendant, and two, a respected wordsmith in the world of sports talk radio. It’s easy to label him as a loser, but his love for football is almost commendable: a diehard Giants fan, Paul lives for tailgating games and telling off his trolling nemesis on air, Eagles fan Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rappaport).
One night, Paul and his only friend, Sal (Kevin Corrigan), spot the Giants’ star quarterback Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm) at a gas station. They follow him, desperate for an autograph and perhaps a blossoming friendship, and find themselves first in a seedy neighborhood involving, oblivious to them, a supposed drug deal, and then at a high-end strip club. Once Paul works up the courage to confront his hero, the icebreaker of “we’ve been following you” only leads to Quantrell beating him down, leaving him in need of intensive care at a local hospital.
Paul’s obnoxious brother (Gino Cafarelli), a wannabe personal injury lawyer, insists that Paul file a lawsuit. Paul, on the other hand, knows that the Giants don’t stand a chance without Quantrell on the team. To protect his sole source of happiness, he begins creating excuses for Quantrell, shrugging off the assault as a simple miscommunication.
Oswalt, an enormously talented stand-up comedian and the voice of Remy the rat in “Ratatouille”, is successful in never judging his character. Paul’s desperate, seemingly unaware that he’s unhappy until his only love is threatened. Writer/director Robert Siegel, who also penned “The Wrestler”, writes Paul almost lovingly – it’s those around Paul who are most despicable.
“Big Fan” is not a sports movie – it’s a low-key, solemn character study. It’s hard to grasp whether Siegel intends things to be a tragedy or comedy, and thus the film is a curious mixture of both. The film is clearly not on the scale of a “Taxi Driver”, but as a sort of quiet, humble homage, it’s worthy.
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