Big Fan: Does This Jersey Make My Ass Look Insane?

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Robert Siegel's directorial debut Big Fan can be seen as a companion piece with The Wrestler, also written by him. In some ways, each are grittier versions of Funny People, too. They're all movies about guys who live arguably misguided lives, come close to death and learn nothing from it. I'm not going to compare the three further than that, since I think The Wrestler and Funny People are each worthy of their own entries, but I just thought I'd point it out. Of the three, Big Fan is probably the easier to relate to, and is maybe the best-balanced of the three, all-around. That is to say, The Wrestler almost built entirely around Mickey Rourke's (excellent) performance, and Funny People meanders somewhat badly (though I find myself defending it frequently). Big Fan's biggest strength is its story, which stays down to earth in even the most unlikely of times.

Patton Oswalt plays Paul Aufiero, and to say Paul is a huge Giants fan is an understatement. The movie takes place over the second half of a regular season of football, and leaves you with no idea what the guy does when the Giants aren't playing. That's most of the year, right? At the start of the movie, we see Paul at work as an attendant at a parking garage, listening to sports radio. He's listening to his arch-rival, Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport) rave about how the Eagles are going to kick the Giants' asses. Paul spends the dead time during his job scribbling a rebuttal. This is a weekly dance they do; aside from actually watching the Giants play (for home games, in the parking lot of Giants stadium on TV), Paul lives to be a fan. He calls into the sports show after work to read out of his notebook while his mother yells at him to quiet down. His friend congratulates him afterward on a job well done. It's not crazy if someone else thinks you're right, I guess.

The rest of Paul's family is introduced at a nephew's birthday party. They've all got "normal" lives while Paul lives with his mother; it's an obvious source of tension for a man in his mid-30s. He's happy to be just a fan, though. It's going to sound odd to say this, but the scenes with his family introduce sexuality into the picture. He has a long and funny conversation with his mother on the way home from the party about his brother taking up with (and marrying) his secretary, who looks like a reject from the Jersey Shore auditions. The movie lingers lovingly on his poster of his favorite player, Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm). His size and muscles are romanticized in thr picture. Paul masturbates under bedsheets, but never appears to look at porn ot be interested in women. The movie smartly has the meeting between Paul and Bishop (which ends with Bishop beating the living fuck outta Paul) take place in a strip club. Paul and his friend are so enamored with Bishop's presence that they almost don't notice a stripper, or, really, that they're in a strip club. The way the duo watches Bishop from afar almost resembles a kid in elementary school being too shy to approach a crush. They even buy Bishop a drink.

So am I saying Paul gay? Not any more than the millions of football fans who idolize big, muscular men. But it's an inherent homoeroticism (which does not mean to be gay!) in sports fandom, and I enjoyed that the movie pointed it out.

But even if there's something strange about Paul, Oswalt plays him with a warmth that makes him understandable. His fanaticism is tested in probably one of the strangest, most difficult ways imaginable. Wisely, the movie avoids having him debate whether or not to continue being a Giants fan. There aren't any big speeches about the nature of fanaticism, even if that's one of the movie's themes. His only verbally explosive moment is when he yells at his mother for insisting he live a "normal" life. Even after being concussed, he's more concerned with how the team is playing - and blaming himself that the team suffers while Bishop is suspended for the incident. It could have been subtitled "The Passion of Paul," since his allegiance to his team is tested so thoroughly.

Late in the movie, he takes on the guise of an Eagles fan, which leads to something similar to a Jesus-like death/redemption without so much as a single Jesus pose. After defending the Giants from Philadelphia Phil for the whole movie, it seemed like the ultimate betrayal for him to wear the green, black and white. He seems so resigned when he sits in a bar with Phil, there's palpable psychological torment. In the end, though, movie only flirts with a Taxi Driver-esque descent into madness, which leads to a perfect climax. It works much like a joke that is only funnier because of how long it is (unlike The Aristocrats, or its namesake). Paul still winds up in jail, though, and because of that, we never see how he spends a normal off season. Handled differently, the implication that this could all happen again next football season could be horrifying, but instead Siegel gives it a fair amount of warmth and optimism.

Something that helps keep things warm is probably the kind of fanaticism he exhibits. Philadelphia Phil is an obnoxious douchebag; I don't even think other Eagles fans like him much. Paul, strange as he is, pretty much only roots against other teams when they're playing his Giants, or as a rebuttal to other football fans. It helps keep him likable, even if his decisions are irrational and unfair to himself. This (as well as that punchline of a climax) is probably why this is often cited as a comedy. It's really not funny for most of its duration (and it's not a long movie, either), at least in the way one would expect from a normal comedy. Or even possibly a dark comedy. It's a bitter and observant kind of comedy, which makes it wholly successful and digestible movie than a drama would have been. As a previous writer for The Onion, Siegel is probably familiar with the cliche "it's funny because it's true." And, while Big Fan isn't necessarily true (and for the sake of any real-life Pauls, I really hope it isn't), it contains a kind of truthful insight that applies to any kind of passion that makes it funny in its own way.

...Go Pats