Day 041 || Big Fan

Big Fan, 2009

Dir. Robert D. Siegel

Big Fan is the debut directorial effort from Robert D. Siegel, previously known for his scripts such as The Wrestler (co-writer) which was a character piece in a much similar way. The Wrestler is also a better film in just about every way. That's not to say Big Fan is necessarily a bad film, it's just one that has been done before, and one that had been done better at that.

Patton Oswalt plays the protagonist of the film who is portrayed in the first half of the film as a sympathetic sports fan, one whose fanatical obsession begs our pity and is relatable in a sense. We all have our hobbies and passions, and again, for the first half of the film I saw myself in the character. Then the film comes to a point where a big event happens, that has Oswalt's character having to make a really tough decision between the team he loves, the Giants, and doing the right thing. It's at this exact point in the film and forward that his character becomes borderline psychotic and frightening in his obsession. And it's at that point that the character becomes unrelatable and scary. The route he takes throws away any sympathies earned.

Sure, this make for a complicated character, but the huge problem with this is that he's extremely unlikable. One could make the argument that he's not supposed to be a likeable character, but when 90% of the film follows him to a tee, if he isn't likeable it quickly becomes a jarring, unpleasant and numbing trip. At the end of the film, instead of feeling relieved or saddened, as I would with most character arcs, I felt nothing. I felt nothing at all because I lost any emotional investment in this character at the end of the first act. It doesn't help that the second act, a transitional act in every sense, really drags.

But for all the negatives I have, this film does have a ton of potential. It's shot very well and the color palettes are interesting, if not purposefully handled here. The yellows, reds, and blues that dominate a monochrome scene are very indicative of the mood and atmosphere. And everyone gives a great performance, from Oswalt to Micheal Rappaport. It's an interesting and often times engaging film, but one that just doesn't manage to live up to the rave reviews surrounding it. Big Fan is an extremely average film which falters about as much as it succeeds, and it's all in part to an odd pace that permeates the film, and the strong lack of a likeable lead character.

2 out of 5