Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Big Fan @ The Friars Club 2.23.10

As my life grows more ironic as I move towards my old age, I have found myself kind of in the film business. Long story, but coincident with said move, my dear friend Eric Johnson invited me to a function at The Friars Club that would feature a screening of Big Fan. I'm not one to pass up on an evening with the Brothers Johnson, and a Patton Oswalt helmed movie at The Friars Club pretty much made this a must-attend. I must say at the onset that the screening (and companion Q&A with Robert Siegel afterward) was the first of a series of screenings tied into the film festival that Eric is one of the players behind. I, of course, have lifestyle driven issues that preclude my remembering the name of the festival or the series at this juncture, but stick around and I'll get the skinny soonish.

I was vaguely familiar with the movie's premise through a posting on Patton's web presence and though I'm hardly the hugest sports fan, the Patton factor seemed to be worth the price of admission. I really enjoyed it despite my antipathy towards dram-edys. It's pretty dark and fairly affirming if you are a nerd (and I am). Without going into too much spoiler stuff, it's a great story about an obsessive Giants Fan and the Michael Rapaport scenes are amazing. MR deserves his props but Big Fan also establishes Patton as a pretty great actor. It'll be interesting to see if this will lead to more time with Oswalt in front of the camera. Here's hoping. Get all the skinny on Big Fan here and buy a copy on DVD while you're there. Thanks to Eric. Stay tuned for more info on the series.

R

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