Big Fan

Sports culture holds an interesting place in our society. For some people it is a healthy distraction from our everyday lives. It is a means of relaxing at the end of a long day or an excuse to get together with some friends and have a few beers. For others, sports represents a religious experience of sorts. They identify fully with their teams and their own ups and downs are tied heavily to the ups and downs of their favorite teams and players. There was a study done by Robert Cialdini in 1976 that studied these effects and led him to develop the term, "BIRG'ing," which stands for basking in reflected glory. He found that when someones team did well they were more apt to wear the team colors and refer to the team in a "we" sense instead of a "they" sense. Robert D. Siegel's 2009 film, Big Fan, explores what happens when a slavishly devoted fan's two worlds collide.

Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt- The King of Queens) is, put it nicely, a 36 year old put upon loser. He works in a parking garage and gets nothing but grief from the patrons who go in and out there. When he gets home- he lives with his mother- she browbeats him about not finding some career and instead just continuing to do what he is doing. Paul's brother Jeff (Gino Cafarelli) is the real apple of his mother's eye. He is a lawyer with a successful practice and a trophy wife (Serafina Fiore). By all accounts, Paul is a guy who has nothing going for him and is essentially living out the string. However, that all changes when the topic changes to his beloved New York Giants.

Paul is a devoted listener to the sports call in show hosted by The Sports Dogg. He sits in his booth at work listening to what the callers say and writing out the speeches he will deliver once he calls in for the evening. He gets home and hides himself under the covers (so as not to disturb his mom) and changes personalities into a confident man. It is under those covers where he ceases to be Paul Aufiero and becomes "Paul from Staten Island." Under this persona, he is a man who is quick with a direct put-down and gets to deliver the similar type of contempt filled threats that he faces everyday from the people who use his garage. His main antagonist in this war is "Philadelphia Phil," who is an equally devoted fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. They exchange threats about how good their team is and how badly they will beat the others' team. Most of the conversation centers around how dominant a player defensive end Quantrell Bishop of the Giants is. Bishop is Paul's favorite player and every Sunday he wears the jersey of this player as he and his friend watch the games. Even at the games Paul is a self assured individual until it comes time to watch the games. Paul and his buddy can not afford to get into the stadium so they go and walk through the parking lot and then hook up a television at their car to watch the game. Until the kickoff they are superfans trying to be involved in the activities and leading cheers but once the time comes they are alone by themselves in the parking lot.

One night Paul and his friend are having pizza when they notice Quantrell Bishop and his entourage across the street gassing up their vehicle. Paul and Sal (Kevin Corrigan- Grounded for Life) decide to follow Quantrell in hopes that they can say hello. They follow Quantrell to a drug deal and then into Manhattan and a city club. This is uncharted territory for Paul and he is in over his head. The only thing he has that he thinks creates an immensely strong bond is his love for the Giants. In Paul's mind, buying a drink for Quantrell allows him entry to shake hands and will lead to them being best friends. After telling Quantrell that they have been following him all evening however Quantrell beats Paul to within an inch of his life thinking that Paul is some psycho who is stalking him. Paul wakes up a few days later from a coma and is upset only when he realizes that he slept through a Giants game AND Quantrell Bishop was suspended for it because of an incident in a night club.

At this point Paul's two lives crash into each other. His family insists that Paul press charges and sue this spoiled athlete for everything he is worth. Paul is outright told that this guy "doesn't care for you one bit." Paul doesn't see it that way. He feels he is to blame for the incident because he was following the guy. Basically, the actions of Quantrell were justified by the actions of Paul. It's bizarre logic to Paul's family, but they don't know "Paul from Staten Island." They see a guy who is 36, lives at home, works in a parking garage, and is a loser. Paul sees the guy who calls into sports radio, is praised for being a great caller by The Sports Dogg, and a guy who has a Giants team that is doing well but they need their big defensive player. All Paul is concerned with is letting these charges drop so Quantrell can get back on the field and help the Giants.

Quantrell is suspended for a few games and when he returns in the season's penultimate game he is clearly rusty and not playing at his same usual level. On top of that, Paul's brother files a 77 million dollar lawsuit on Paul's behalf because he is "not thinking straight." If that were not enough, "Philadelphia Phil," calls into The Sports Dogg show and says that the guy who has filed the lawsuit is none other than "Paul from Staten Island." When Paul calls in to defend himself his mom picks up the other end and yells at Paul which causes him to use the F bomb and get kicked off The Sports Dogg's call-in show. At this moment, Paul has nothing left on the side of life that he loves. He is the reason the Giants season is crashing down. He is the reason that Quantrell Bishop is not playing well. He no longer is the anonymous "Paul from Staten Island," his whole life now is just him being Paul Aufiero and that to him is the worst thing of all. He no longer has the side of his life that makes him feel like a winner, it's all loser and he is now stuck at the whims and constant derision of his family. As a final insult, Phil invites Paul to become an Eagles fan. Up to that point, Paul could deal with his world crumbling. However, the biggest insult that anyone could hurl on him was to try and make him turn against his Giants. So Paul does the only thing he knows to do in this situation.

Paul takes a trip down I-95 to Philadelphia to confront Phil in a bar while the Giants and Eagles play their Monday Night game with the division and a playoff berth on the line. However, he isn't going as Paul, he is going in Eagles colors and looking to befriend Phil. After the game, a game in which the Eagles win, Paul follows Phil into the bathroom and pulls a gun. However, Paul has no desire to shoot and kill Phil. What Paul does have in mind though, in his mind, is a far more menacing gesture. He shoots paintballs at Phil in the colors of his beloved Giants. Paul then runs for the door and bolts for his car but the cops catch him and he ends up in jail under assault charges. He spends time in jail but the movie ends with Sal showing up and going over the upcoming season's schedule and they compare notes as to who the Giants will be playing the week that Paul gets out.

The acting performances here are all top notch and Oswalt is a revelation in his first starring role. He balances both sides of Paul's personality well and develops a sad sack character that the viewer can buy into even while they consider him a bit of a loser. The whole movies hinges on the performance and if Oswalt missed any nuances in the role it would've hurt the believability of the film. A lot of credit as well has to go to Robert Siegel who wrote the film as a follow-up to the wonderful The Wrestler. He seems very attuned to the devotional nature of sports fans. If you listen to sports radio for 10 minutes you hear numerous callers like Paul. They define themselves so intensely by what their team does on the field. Losses crush them, and wins raise them to new levels of happiness. In Paul, you get a glimpse into that character because he uses sports as not just an outlet but as a place where he can create a persona that better suits him. Paul is essentially dreaming with his eyes wide open. He isn't creating something in a psychotic nature. What he is creating is something far more dangerous- a sociopathic existence

SO TO RECAP....

This is an extremely well done look at a minority of individuals, but a minority that exists. Paul is no different than people all across the country who use sports as a drug of sorts. You have a great script that finds a way to hit all different checkpoints for these types of fans, and a top notch performance by Patton Oswalt who drives this film and helps you identify with Paul so much that it pushes you back a little bit when he performs his actions at the end. As I see it- Big Fan is worthy of.....