Big Fan is about a parking lot attendant (Patton Oswalt) who lives for the Giants.  He bases his whole life around this obsession, spending his time listening to sports radio call in shows and writing down speeches to make when he calls in himself.  He even goes to all the games…then sits out in the parking lot watching the game on tv.  One day he sees the star quarterback at a gas station and follows him first to a stop at a drug dealers then to a strip club.  All he wants to do is say hi to his hero but winds up getting beaten within an inch of his life by the man.  The rest of the movie is his struggle to deal with the aftermath.

This film was both written and directed by Robert D. Siegel, who is best known for writing the excellent The Wrestler and in many aspects this film is very similar.  It’s a character study, focusing all it’s energy on one main character and his inner turmoil.  It also takes place in a hyper-realistic world.  The majority of the film takes place on Staten Island, where Oswalt’s character lives and works and I can tell you as someone who’s lived 2 miles from Staten Island my whole life that they nailed that, the people, the environment, all were true to life.

Now clearly this entire film was sort of a gamble.  You’re putting an entirely serious movie, a heavy drama with heavy demands on the lead to actually be a good actor, on someone who up until this point is known entirely for his comedic skills.  And that gamble was totally worth it.  Patton Oswalt embraces this role and does nothing less than on Oscar award worthy performance.  This is especially impressive because unlike Roarke in The Wrestler, this character is nothing even close to the real Oswalt.

The movie is a real slow burn.  The entire thing moves at a snails pace but it has the right running time and you never get that “too long” feeling.  There’s a lot of quiet moments that rely on Oswalts internal struggles without dialogue.

I really highly suggest that you check this out as soon as possible.  It’s available on DVD from Amazon:

It’s also available on their VODservice as well.