So much average

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Beautiful, moving film.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

I count myself as a big fan of Big Fan. If you watch it, you may too.The story revolves around the title character's (Patton Oswalt in a very good star turn) rather depressing, boring life and his reasons for living, the NY Giants football team and his opportunity for notoriety via his "witty" banter on a sports radio call-in show. When he randomly spots, follows and approaches one of the team's stars, he unknowingly triggers a violent response. Rather than use this experience to change his view of his team, he denies any wrong-doing in an attempt to not cause HIS team any disruption on their march to the playoffs.This character study is detailed and very realistic, with some interesting twists. Each of the minor characters also ring true, and one could easily picture this story as a slice of life for any number of anonymous sports fans. There is enough comedy (light and dark) and emotional sincerity that this movie will appeal to more than the sports fan.

What a kick-off to the movie season! Most sports movies focus on the success of a particular team or player, so the idea that sports are not simply about the players themselves, but about the fans and the city the team represents is an original and refreshing concept. So you can have a field goal with this. Directed and written by Robert D. Siegel, the story revolves Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt); one of the biggest fans of the New York Giants. One day, Paul and his friend, Sal (Kevin Corrigan) spotted Giant's linebacker Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm) in a public nightclub doing drugs. The character of Quantrell Bishop or nicknamed QB in the movie, is model out of real life Giants Hall of Famer, Lawrence Taylor, who had a very public drug history. When they chat with him; things go soured because QB mistake them for cops. The intoxicated Bishop became enraged and brutally beats Paul. Paul is hospitalized for his injuries and Bishop has been suspended. Now, Paul Aufiero has to make a choice, go on to intercept Bishop's playing career by pressing charges against him, or stay loyal to his beloved team by allowing Bishop to get off scot free. The movie seems to have something going with a similar plot to 'the Wrestler', but it falls flat because one main different. Instead, of trying to better his life, Paul's existence is so remove from the norms of society that it's unlikeable. He rejects any offer that would help him, whether it is a job or moving into his own place. This movie's lack somewhat of a transformation for its character. Nothing really happens in this movie besides showcasing how mentally incompetent and bleak, Paul is. Let's keep in mind that the word "fan" is indeed, shortened form of the word, 'fanatic'. Paul is pretty unlikeable and this will undoubtedly alienate some viewers. I couldn't decide whether to feel sorry for Paul or hate him. It's not that he's socially awkward or can't interact with society, it's that he doesn't want to. I have to say, while Patton Oswalt isn't really acting anything new, here since this role is similar to the hopeless nerd loser roles he been typecast for years now. Patton Oswalt does do a good job in this dramatic side of the role, besides doing his norm shticks. Patton Oswalt did makes a touchdown when it matters, by showing the fanatic of this character, but you can't help wanting more out of him. Adam Sandler was offered the part of Paul Aufiero at first, and I think he might had made this work, but in my opinion, I think both actors were limited in their range. In his role, you would think Patton Oswalt is a huge football fan in real life, but surprising Oswalt and his co-star Kevin Corrigan don't have a clue of any football terminology. Another person that fits their role in real life, is Michael Rapaport. He flew like an eagle in his brief scene as the supporting role, arch-enemy of Paul, Philadelphia Eagles fan, Philadelphia Phil. Like Patton Oswalt, he isn't really acting much here, besides acting like Rapaport. I found minor football mistakes in the movie, that any football fan can notice, but it's wasn't like a big deal here like other football movies. Some people might hate it, due to the negative light on football fans, but as a football fan, I didn't find it, disrespectful at all. Like any other sport, there are people that take the sport too far, and I didn't think the movie went that level. I wish, it did. It would had been more entertaining. I was hoping for something like 1996's the Fan. I found 2012's Silver Linings Playbook with Bradley Cooper in a similar story and role, told it a little bit better. It did keeps the story at a realistic level. Even when it approaches the crazy at the end, we can still believe what we are seeing. I'm surprise to see that the NFL allow the movie to even show the Giants in a fiction based negative light and other teams. Do note, while the movie revolves around the NFL, you don't see a single NFL logo on display, nor a moment of actual sports action through the film. The NFL wouldn't even allow them to film in the stadium. So there were some limited to what they were able to do in the film. While this movie didn't had the budget, Silver Lining or the Fan did, it did get me hook to the story. I would have preferred a darker story simply because that is what I went in expecting, but I was OK with the results. It felt boring at times. Most of the best blitz conflict scenes just happens to be near a toilet in an odd way. The comedy tone is all over the place, and never really working. The film falls to tie up so many of the loose ends in Paul's social and family life. The ending doesn't really solve anything. At less, it ask you, how far is Paul willing to take his obsession. It did had a good twist toward the end zone. For anybody who isn't a fan of the sport, there is a lot more to this movie, besides football. It is a character study. The movie is a upsetting and insightful commentary on the vaunted status how society afford to our media, some call "heroes," often at the expense of our own sense of self-worth. Overall: a good watch, but somewhat a fumble.

I'm no fan of Patton Oswalt as a comedian. But what a remarkable dramatic actor! Oswalt plays Paul Aufiero, the eponymous BIG FAN of the New York Giants, whose favorite player, Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm) nearly fatally bashes Paul one night for seemingly stalking him.(If someone really hates you, that is presumably "reason" enough they might do you harm; ironically, if someone really really really loves you, that is ALSO reason enough.) Rather than bring a lawsuit against Bishop, which would mean Bishop's suspension and therefore the crippling of Paul's favorite team, Paul drops all charges and pretends amnesia to a nosy detective.Written and directed by the writer of THE WRESTLER (Robert D. Siegel), BIG FAN is a hard closeup of the pathology and pathos of being so deep into a fantasy that the real world cannot compete let alone offer any solace.Like director Darren Aronofsky simply followed The Wrestler through his mundane workday, Siegel reveals Paul's tics and quirks simply by training his camera on him: Paul sits in his toll booth composing screeds to deliver on sports radio call-in shows; when he does call in, his delivery actually sounds scripted (testament to Oswalt's talent), yet his best friend listening in, Sal (Kevin Corrigan) believes him to be a prophet; Paul and Sal regularly catch Giants games - from a portable TV in the Giants Stadium car park, cheering as wildly as if they're in the bleachers; Paul lives with his nagging mother (Marcia Jean Kurtz), holed up in a small bedroom which offers no privacy. The tragicomedy is cringeworthy.Gino Cafarelli plays Paul's lawyer brother, who complicates matters when he brings charges against Bishop without Paul's consent; Serafina Fiore brings her outsize breasts to the role of Paul's sister-in-law (I still cannot understand why women with outsized fakes believe anyone would take their "acting" seriously when faced with their elective surgery orbs of distraction); Matt Servito ("the lovely Agent Harris" from THE SOPRANOS) is the nosy detective who cannot understand why Paul is protecting Bishop.Tension and black humor drives the last act, with some twists that nicely augment Paul's dementia, as he seeks revenge not on Bishop, but on a rival team's fan (Michael Rappaport). And Patton Oswalt delivers with a surprising conviction that makes me wonder why he chose comedy as his career when drama is so clearly his forte.Where Patton Oswalt Actor is concerned - I'm a BIG FAN... Now where's my gun?...

Big Fan: 6 out of 10: This is Precious for white people. Same collection of overweight pathetic losers, same overt racial stereotypes (assuming Guidos are a race, which I believe technically they are. An offshoot of Oompa Loompa line if I recall correctly), and the same is this supposed to be funny moments.But instead of wallowing in the ethnocentric misery of rape, incest, AIDS, illiteracy, and stealing fried chicken of Precious. Big Fan deals with that most tragic of stories; the lifelong Giants fan.Talented comedian Patton Oswalt plays the schlub with such spot on dramatic conviction that the film has no hope of being a comedy or for that matter being feel good and redemptive. We are in for the long haul and we know this isn't going to turn out well. (A feeling Giants fans should be familiar with.) The film is shot with a seventies eye and is directed by Robert Siegel (in his directing debut) who wrote the quite funny Onion Movie and surprisingly uplifting The Wrestler. The plot follows the actions of Oswalt, a 35 year old loser that still lives with his mother and works as a parking lot attendant. His only outlet is as a caller to the Sports Dog show as Paul from Staten Island where he reads of a carefully crafted notebook of clichés, and battles his nemesis, a caller from Philly.That is the entirety of his life till one night he and his friend run into the Giants star linebacker at a gas station. (The linebacker is nicknamed QB which confused more than one non-sports fan movie reviewer).So they follow Lawrence Taylor (excuse me QB) to a dodgy part of Staten Island where he appears to pick up some drugs and then follow him into Manhattan to the nudie bar Scores (excuse me a Scores like club). He and his friend eventually confront their hero at the nudie bar looking for an autograph where the paranoid QB, thinking they may be stalking him for a shakedown, beats Oswalt into a three day coma.And there is the conundrum. Does Oswalt press charges and sue therefore perhaps getting the means to better his life (and for that matter afford actual Giants tickets rather than watching them from the parking lot every Sunday), or does he claim amnesia and QB will be eligible to play again for the Giants as they head towards the post season.The film has some missteps in the second half as director Siegal struggles with some of the second half plot twists that take away from the gritty realism of the first half. In addition, while the acting and casting is top notch across the board; some of the characters themselves are stereotypes so broad they seem to border on parody.I like football and sports gives guys something to talk about. It is a much safer small talk subject than religion, politics or how I would like to sleep with your wife. I have never understood however the "Sports Fan" as depicted here, but I do understand the need to find a creative outlet in a pathetic dead-end life….Excuse me I have to cry myself to sleep now.