This film had been on my radar for quite some time through both friends who'd seen it and through hearing about it in connection with The Wrestler. The one thing I'd heard over and over is that I had to see the film, if for no other reason, than for Patton Oswalt - who I've been a fan of for some time. He does a variation on Travis Bickle here that's quite interesting to watch. It's a film about a man who lives and breathes sport, in particular the New York Giants. She spends his evenings listening to a call-in sports talk show, scribbling down thoughts, and then calling in and pretending to 'wing-it'. They go to the game's tailgate parties and sit outside the stadium watching the game on a television whose power is jerry-rigged to their car's battery. Then one evening he and his best friend are out and they happen across our Big Fan's favourite player. They follow him to a club to be able to say hello and end up on the receiving end of a rather large beating when the Athlete thinks he's being stalked. What follows next is the question of how far will someone go to protect something they love? The player is suspended for the incident and the Giants start a losing streak, which Oswalt's character feels responsible for.
The film is, intentionally, a bit sad and pathetic. All the more so because I'm pretty sure that I know people that would go to these extremes. I believe that Oswalt's character would go to the extremes that he does and I want to reach out and shake the guy, but it would be a fool's errand when he won't even listen to his own family. This film isn't for everyone, that's for sure, but it's well worth checking out if you're curious about it at all.
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