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Dancing_P [ 7.0 ]
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Despite being one of the funniest standup comedians currently working, Patton Oswalt hasn't gotten much of a break on the big screen. His unconventional looks mean he's not being lined up as the poor man's Dane Cook any time soon and his film roles have been mostly of the paycheck-gathering supporting kind. Unfortunately, Big Fan is not going to have Hollywood agents knocking down Oswalt's door any time soon - The Wrestler scribe Robert D. Siegel's directorial debut is a slow-burn portrayal of obsessive fandom not designed to showcase Oswalt's comedic chops. Not that any of this is a bad thing, mind you; Big Fan is a pretty terrific character study in the Taxi Driver mold with a surprisingly effective dramatic performance from Oswalt. It's also deliberately contained and hermetic, a small film by design that never once transcends the modest goals it fixes for itself. Siegel is a great writer and I admire his devotion to 70's-style character studies but he seems ill at ease behind the camera here, aping the naturalistic style Aronofsky brought to the Wrestler without ever matching it. Still, there's a lot of good to be found in the story of middle-aged schlub Paul Aufiero (Oswalt) and his zealot-like admiration of star quarterback Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm).
Paul lives at home with his domineering mother, constantly upstaged by his ambulance-chasing lawyer brother and his trophy wife, content with his sedentary life obsessing over football. The only place Paul ever shines is on the line with a tacky call-in sports show where he delivers scripted rants aiming to take down a particularly ornery Philadelphia fan (Michael Rapaport). A chance encounter with Bishop at a pizza parlor in Rhode Island lead Paul and his best bud Sal (Kevin Corrigan) to follow him into Manhattan at a chi-chi strip club where starstruck Paul reveals that he essentially stalked Bishop. He wakes up bruised and busted in the hospital, having had the shit kicked out of him by his hero. The impending criminal investigation prevents Bishop from playing, leaving Paul in the uncomfortable position of being responsible for the last thing he wants.
Oswalt is perfect for the role - although it isn't quite the leap of, say, a Punch Drunk Love, he proves to be a perfectly capable dramatic actor. The film's naturalistic approach to the material (there's a lot of sitting around) is quite effective but as I mentioned, Siegel isn't the most visually dynamic of directors. It lacks the sort of gritty panache that the movies of the 70s Siegel loves (or even the makeshift reinterpretations of the last few years) and settles for bland and vibeless - the script and performances are strong enough but prevents the movie from being great.
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| Weighted Rating | : 6.6 |
| No. Ratings | : 2 | |
| No. Reviews | : 1 | |
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