Big Fan

Marx was wrong, religion is NOT the opiate of the masses..
The NFL is.

This is a chilling depiction of how obsession with a sports team morphs into a genuine psychological pathology. This uber-Giants fan loses all perspective in his identification with his favorite team and player, despite the fact that the latter beats him to within an inch of his life. Sad commentary on modern life and how devoid of meaning it can be that people develop unhealthy attachments to a sports team.

At times the movie was hard to watch, but it was well done in depicting the dark underbelly of sports obsession.

As to this movie, it made me a big fan...

This is near Pefection
From the first time I saw this movie, I've been comparing it to Taxi Driver, which I thought was one of the Darkest Films I've seen, but Big Fan is Darker, because I believe there are more Pauls than Travis's in the World around us, people who are wound up so tight due to the way their lives have turned out that they resort to drastic measures. The key to a good Psychotic Study such as this is the belief it could happen (I know about the comparison of Travis and John Hinckley and Jodie Foster) The other thing I enjoyed was the brilliant permormance by the entire Cast, Patton Oswalt should have won an Oscar for this Performance, The woman who played his Mother did not Utter one false word in her entire performance, and the rest of the cast was equally impressive, including Paul's Sister-in-Law with the distracting Boob-Job (they were perfect for the part)

My bias against spectator sports ...
My bias against spectator sports means I don't watch sports, don't watch movies about sports. But this movie tweaked my interest and I'm glad it did. It isn't about sports ... not even so much about sports fans, though that is the backdrop of the movie. For me, it was about people who don't "fit in" finding a place of their own, a place to feel not alone. This sweet, sad, and funny movie is incredibly well done. Paul and Sal are unforgettable.

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