CinePhillyist Reviews... Big Fan

You probably know someone like Big Fan's Paul Aufiero. Diehard sports fan, lives and breathes football for the season, refers to the team as "we?"

But with Paul Aufiero, Patton Oswalt and writer/director Robert Siegel bring you a special brand of sports fan. Sure, he's that guy, but he's also the guy who's single, still lives with his mom at age 35, and writes out a script before he calls in to talk trash on sports radio. Paul is a New York Giants fan, and his sports-radio nemesis is—wait for it—Philadelphia Phil, an Eagles fanatic. So, if you're the kind of fan who bleeds green, be prepared to be a little peeved. It's possible some of the fans at the screening hissed. Just sayin'.

Paul's loyalties are tested, though, when he approaches faux Giants QB—and Paul's favorite player—Quantrell Bishop in a bar...and Bishop beats him up. A lot.

Now, as athlete crimes go, that beats shooting yourself in the thigh, no? C'mon, at least this dude got hit on purpose! (Kidding, Giants fans. Trust us, we know exactly how much room we have to talk right now about criminals in sports.)

Curiously, none of the bar patrons who witnessed the crime are willing to talk to the police, so Paul is the only one who can dime out his favorite player—an easy choice for the average person. But for Paul, tattling on Bishop would mean putting the Giants' best player behind bars during the height of the season. The team needs Quantrell; Paul needs the team. What to do?

One of the best things about Big Fan, besides the superbly twisted comedy, and of course Patton Oswalt, is that it's accessible to even the non-sports fan. If you've got a slightly warped sense of humor, you're golden. An inexplicable fondness for the word "jabroni" doesn't hurt, nor does the sense of hometown pride you'll get when you recognize some Philly scenery in the flick. Big Fan is a wicked, no-holds-barred foray into one of the East Coast's most heated sports rivalries, as well as a not-subtle poke at criminal activity among our nation's athletes, but more importantly, it's just a really good film.

Big Fan is playing exclusively at Ritz at the Bourse. You can see the trailer at the movie's official website.

So don't be a jabroni. Go see this movie.