Robert D. Siegel's Big Fan stars Patton Oswalt as Paul Aufiero, a man in his forties working the ticket booth at a coliseum while living with his mother. Paul is also a hopelessly die hard New York Giants fan and practically devotes every waking minute to either thinking about the giants, discussing plays and stats with his friend (Kevin Corrigan), or calling into sports stations. After meeting his all-time favorite player Antoine Bishop, and being brutally beaten by him, Paul is torn between suing or letting it go so Bishop won't miss the season. Big Fan is diverse for actor Patton Oswalt in the sense that it's not a laugh-out-loud comedy. Oswalt electrifies the viewer with his ability to switch gears to a more serious role much like Robin Williams (i.e. One Hour Photo and Insomnia). This film has a truly dark brand of humor if any at all, yet keeps you entertained from start to finish with its one of a kind characters and discrete script. Having already shown us a washed up, near pathetic sports related figure in Siegle's script of The Wrestler (starring Mickey Rourke), one tends to be skeptical of such a similar story written and directed less than a year later. One quickly recognizes the diversity between the two stories and Big Fan's ability to captivate the audience and force them to admire this fan's dedication and passion for the sport. The film's top notch directing, acting, and casting earns it a solid 3 stars in my book and won it the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Breakthrough Director Award for Robert D. Siegel.
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