Big Fan 2009

Michael Phillips, At the Movies: [Oswalt] is doing work here he has never done on screen. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: Writer-director Robert D. Siegel grew up listening to callers like Paul on The FAN, New York City's all-sports radio, and he gives us a bizarrely sympathetic portrait of a guy who is as devout and as obsessive as any religious fanatic. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The movie concludes with a series of tense, unpredictable scenes. Isn't that why we love sports so much, because we never know what will happen? Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A bleakly funny character study of a very particular species of urban fauna -- the sports radio call-in fanatic -- Big Fan is compulsively watchable. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Though the movie isn't much to look at, he gets a credibly dark and pathetic performance from the typically comic Oswalt. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Robert Siegel, the writer-director of Big Fan, was also the writer of The Wrestler, last year's most overrated movie. In some ways, I like this one more, but it's yet another grunge fest. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: An unblinking look at the hidden (or perhaps not so 
 hidden) pathology of American sports mania, in which the power and victory of your team becomes the sole conduit for your self-worth. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Big Fan isn't a touchdown, but its patient torture reminded me of the rest of the world's football: tense stretches of nothing with enough killer moments to cheer. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: What's left is a vivid portrait of an exceedingly ordinary man for whom there's no great epiphany or cliched redemption. That may be Siegel's trickiest play of all. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The movie gets repetitive, and when it calls an audible and goes somewhere unexpected, it pulls back quickly. Too bad. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Superb Noo Yawk attitude, dialogue and performances keep the movie lively and tart, but it also turns out to have a surprising plot with a few twists you won't see coming. Read more

Sara Vilkomerson, New York Observer: Mr. Siegel nails so many quirky details, and finds humor in the smallest of moments, that Big Fan is surprisingly poignant, too. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Big Fan shares a nutty kinship with the obsessive-loner pictures of Martin Scorsese, namely Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. And while Oswalt is no De Niro, the stand-up comic brings a schlumpy pathos to his portrait that shows depth and dimension. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Writer/director Robert D. Siegel understands the psychology of the obsessive sports fan, and he brings it to the screen in Big Fan, a dark comedy that occasionally skirts close to the edge of tragedy. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A comedy with dark undertones, it asks: What kind of a man listens to and calls sports talk radio compulsively, even at 2 a.m.? Even out of season? Even on, say, Thanksgiving? He should get a life, do you think? Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Robert Siegel makes a potent directing debut with a scrappy movie that refuses to sentimentalize or ridicule its besieged hero worshipper. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's a classic situation, transplanted to a small, petty arena. When I think of this movie, I think of Oswalt, how his anguish feels real (whether we understand it or not) and how his face unaccountably becomes an offbeat locus of dignity. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: With its unremittingly bleak humor and eagerness to plumb the depths of fanboy abjection, Big Fan seems destined for a future in the cult canon. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: In his first starring role, Oswalt, a stand-up comedian whose trademark persona is part comic-book geek and part frat-house hedonist, inhabits a character who is both painfully familiar and poignantly alone. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: First-time director Siegel shows promise. His script is solid, and although the last act feels somewhat awkward, the idea is clever. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: It's a small, peculiar film, one unlikely to appeal much to women, non-sports fans and mainstreamers, but its uncomfortable comic insights should win it a loyal following. Read more

Vadim Rizov, Village Voice: Audiences are invited to congratulate themselves for not reviling Paul, as long as they keep him at arm's length. Read more