'Big Fan': Giant among sports movies

In football movies, somebody always comes in for heartbreak. In "North Dallas Forty," Nick Nolte plays an aging wide receiver; in "The Longest Yard," Burt Reynolds is a game-throwing quarterback hoping for redemption; in "Any Given Sunday," Al Pacino is a 30-year coach about to be tossed aside. Granted, there are plenty of plain-old heartwarmers like "The Blind Side," but the most memorable football films speak to the physical and emotional pain inherent in the game.

A recent addition to the genre is "Big Fan," a 2009 independent film that's worth renting when the adrenaline from Sunday's Giants-Patriots rematch in Super Bowl XLVI wears off. The movie is unusual for many reasons, but mainly because it focuses not on the players or the game, but on the guy in the stands.

Actually, Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt, "Young Adult") can't afford the stands. Paul -- a parking garage attendant who lives with his mother in Staten Island -- and his buddy Sal (Kevin Corrigan) like to tailgate outside Giants Stadium, and even after kickoff they stay there, with two lawn chairs and a portable TV. These evenings mean the world to Paul, and they usually end with him calling into a local radio show to taunt another caller, Philadelphia Phil (an Eagles fan, of course).

Things take a dark turn when Paul follows his favorite Giants player, Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm), into a Manhattan strip club in the hopes of obtaining an autograph. What he gets instead, after a slight misunderstanding, is a vicious beating. When Paul wakes from his coma, the police want his statement, the papers (including Newsday) want an interview and his family wants to file a lawsuit. Despite pressure from all sides, Paul has only one concern: What will all this do to his beloved team?

"Big Fan" works as a dark spoof of sports fandom -- Paul sometimes borders on a psychosis worthy of "Taxi Driver" -- but also as a salute to the little guys who invest professional sports with so much meaning. Watching Paul pour his emotions into the game, you just might -- for better or worse -- recognize yourself.