Every person knows someone who loves their sports team. They live to watch them play and worship the players on it. These individuals see these sports stars as heroes or idols. Their team and their favorite players are untouchable. Well this is what Big Fan is all about. A guy’s love for the New York Giants football team. And his hero is linebacker Quantrell Bishop. This guy lives for his team. Dedicated is an understatement to describe his love for his team.
This guy’s name is Paul (Patton Oswalt) and he is the self-proclaimed “Giants Biggest Fan!” And I would have to agree, but I also wouldn’t want to disagree with him. Paul is in his thirties and he lives with his mother. He works as a parking-garage attendant in Staten Island. But he glows when he is talking about his Giants team. He is a regular caller in a local sports radio show, and he feels like he fits in when it comes to football. But it may be the only time he feels like that.
Paul and his buddy Sal (Kevin Corrigan) see Bishop at a gas station and follow him all the way to Manhattan to a strip club. They finally get the courage to approach him and meet him, but it does not go well. Not well at all. Paul ends up in the hospital and Bishop is suspended because of it. This is only the beginning of it.
Every one wants Paul to press charges and sue, but Paul is a loyal Giants fan. He has posters of Bishop all over his wall. This goes much deeper for Paul. In fact, it is so deep Paul blames himself and that all of what happened was just a “misunderstanding.” Paul gets his ass kicked and may have brain damage, but he cares more about Bishop playing and Giants winning. He has to be the biggest damn Giants fan out there.
Written and directed by Robert D. Siegel, this film really focuses on the extreme sports fan and we all know they exist. But the situation that Paul gets in to really tests his loyalty. But the character of Paul is the real part of this film. We know about his love for football, but you worry about the life he is living. Or if he is living at all. Paul has problems and insecurities. However, football is his escape. It is one thing that is going well in his life and he doesn’t want to mess that up.
Oswalt is a comedian and is mostly known for playing on the TV show King of Queens and providing the voice of Remy in Pixar’s Ratatouille. But he plays a dark character in this. Now the film is funny at parts, but it really is a tragic tale. I dare say it is borderline depressing. What Paul does and the way he thinks is really unbelievable. You know something is wrong with him mentally.
Oswalt does a great job playing this character. This is a turn for the dramatic, and he really sheds the reputation of being a funny guy. The is his most serious and complex role for sure. And Big Fan is more complex than you think. Sports fans and their love for the game is just the surface.
The story goes deeper by using Paul and digging in to his personal life. And you see how serious it is for him and I’m sure there are more people just like him out there. It is more than a game for Paul. It’s his life and there is nothing he would not do for his New York Giants.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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