Big Fan

This is one ugly looking movie, partly to compliment the lead character's drab existence and partly because I imagine the budget was miniscule. Whereas Siegel's script for The Wrestler had more cliches and also focused on a lonely loser, it benefited a ton from Darren Aronofsky's brilliant direction and Mickey Rourke's performance made the character easy to relate to and root for.

Here, Patton Oswalt is great, but the character is kept at an arm's length at all times and makes some inexplicable choices that I found confounding. Heck, I'm not a sports fan but I am a movie buff and can relate to fandom. But to make a character do really stupid things, you really have to delve into his psyche and help the audience understand where his obsessions are rooted. To value a football player overmoney, independence, fame and women is bizarre, but the script doesn't truly explore that. There is a really frustrating lack of growth in the character.

Instead, it chooses to waste precious time on a strange third act that although unpredictable, feels weak and poorly thought-out. First you don't know what Paul is going to do, then it slowly dawns on you, then it shocks you, then it pulls back at the last minute. And like I said, the look is so dull and depressing that it didn't pull me in. The Wrestler proved that a conventional script can be elevated by great direction and eye for detail. When you don't have either a solid script and a deft hand behind thecamera, it's not an involving experience.

A real disappointment for me because I expected this to be a disturbing look at a lonely obsessive socially inept outsider along the lines of Taxi Driver, but it ended up not leaving much of an impression.