Paul is a rabid New York Giants fan. He's a parking lot attendant and he lives at home with his mother, but there's another, more glamorous side to his life. That's the part where at night, on sports talk radio, he's the caller known as 'Paul from Staten Island'.
Paul lives and breathes the Giants, and he's the centre of Big Fan, a movie that's either a very funny tragedy or a comedy with tragic overtones -- or something in between. What we can tell you for sure is that the movie is small but the performances are huge.
Paul (Patton Oswalt) and his buddy Sal (Kevin Corrigan) would never miss a Giants game. They don't actually have tickets, but they go to the stadium and watch the game on a TV set in the parking lot. Their conversations about the team are serious and heartfelt, and they plan their lives around the Giants' schedule.
As a regular caller to a sports radio show, Paul defends the Giants against his nemesis, another fan called Philadelphia Phil, who calls in to rave about the Eagles. Paul makes notes during work so he'll know what to say when he gets on the air.
One night, Paul and Sal see the Giants' quarterback, Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm) driving around Staten Island with his posse. They decide to follow him, and everyone winds up at a strip club in Manhattan. Paul and Sal are more than happy to just sit and stare at their idol from a nearby table; they are oblivious to everything else around them, including the almost naked woman pole-dancing directly behind their heads. Paul and Sal are stunned by $9 beers and offers of lap dances, but, weirdly, neither of these poor saps ever loses his dignity.
The guys finally work up the nerve to say hello to the quarterback, but things go bad quickly. Bishop thinks there's something funny going on, and a melee erupts in the bar. When it's all over, Paul finds he has to take action to defend what's important in his life.
Big Fan is a really interesting character study and an oddly pleasant look at one man's obsession. Paul is the sort of person who would routinely be called a loser and whose life appears to be without any focus or goal, but he's harmless, and he loves being caught up in the Giants' universe.
Big Fan was written and directed by Robert Siegel, who wrote The Wrestler and who certainly seems to know his way around sports and underdogs. It's his feature directorial debut, and we can't wait to see what he'll do next.
Big Fan is wonderfully written, cliche-free and fully capable of surprising you.
(This film is rated 14-A)
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