The Fan

Sports and Robert DeNiro together. I was in heaven...until I saw the movie It seemed like a great idea, but it just didn't quite work. A bit of a combination of an ordinary, if not over-necessarily creepy storyline, and an ordinary script. The movie revolves around Robert DeNiro's character, Gil, an over obsessed sports fan who decides he wants to play an active role in the career of Bobby (Wesley Snipes), in a performance that will be mentioned in the same sentence as "Passenger 57". Gil cracks when problems with his family and job explode, causing him to focus all his energies in Bobby. How far will Gil go to get what he wants? See it to find out.

Pretty disappointed with this movie, although it features one of my favourite scenes ever when Gil and Bobby have a little game of baseball near the end.

Gil Renard is an unemployed knife salesman who has one burning ambition in life -- to be exposed as baseball's biggest fan, or, more accurately, as hitting sensation Bobby Rayburn's biggest fan. He will go to any length to protect his hero from the media and all other ramifications that stem from being paid an excessive $40,000,000 a year to play with the Giants. And this dedication to perfection, as his ex-boss puts it, is what leads to his partial schizophrenia and almost complete absorption into the world of an over-hyped celebrity. But when Renard realizes that his efforts and 'kindnesses' are not appreciated by his #1 idol, he turns on his role-model and viciously hunts him and his family down to the film's final climax.

7/10

A flawed movie, but worth seeing for De Niro's performance as Gil Renard, an increasingly crazed fan/stalker. Also, yet again, baseball shows itself as the sport most able to provide striking visual metaphors for the ups and downs of life (though, as a Brit, I've noted some of the specific criticisms aimed at the baseball sequences in this movie by IMDb commenters from the US).

Where the movie, via the genius of De Niro, certainly succeeds is in convincingly demonstrating how easily and quickly obsessive devotion can turn to obsessive hatred, when the object of that devotion fails to meet the assumptions of the extreme fan. Certainly, there's some of Max Cady, the Cape Fear psychotic, in his portrayal; but there's also a lot of Rupert Pupkin, the confused kidnapper and would-be comic from King of Comedy - both films, of course, directed by Martin Scorsese.

Where the film fails is in being too repetitive and, consequently, a bit too long; one or two of the scenes where Gil is trying to sell his knives are superfluous; and, when Gil is at the game with his son, why does the camera have to keep cutting to the woman in the crowd - once or twice would have been sufficient. Several of the scenes also seem derivative, especially those involving Dan Butler, as Garitty the sales manager, which echo Glengarry Glen Ross. A major unconvincing aspect is that surely a $40m signing, like Bobby Raybourn (Wesley Snipes), would be surrounded by a lot more razzmatazz than simply one not-too-effective agent (John Leguizamo).

But, on the whole, one to rent or watch on TV (as I've just done) if nothing more compelling is available.

Is it just me or does this film share so many of the aspects that the King of Comedy made over ten years earlier? Both of De Niros characters are losers who have a dream, both are unlucky in love, both have short tempers when pushed, both have obvious disorders within their mind and both are obsessive 'fans' of bobby rayburn and jerry langford, respectively. Stalking and kidnapping occurs in each film by De Niro, of his respective hero but neither hero actually gets hurt. Though in the King of comedy he is funnier and probably a nicer guy!

Although The Fan has a baseball setting with the late Candlestick Park in San Francisco, it's not a baseball story. It's the dual story of a fan obsessed with baseball and his favorite player and that same player and his performance anxiety living up to the huge amount of money the Giants are paying him.

The title role is played by Robert DeNiro and a lot of his character is taken from what Michael Douglas had earlier did in Falling Down. DeNiro is the son of the founder of the company he works for, but dad having passed away long ago, the company is in different hands. DeNiro is not cutting it as a salesman of hunting knives (no pun intended) and he's having problems with his former wife Patty D'Arbanville-Quinn over visitation with his son.

At the same time multi-million dollar acquisition Wesley Snipes is having problems living up to the hype and he's looking like a big old bust. Especially next to new Giant sensation Benicio DelToro who is carrying the team with what looks like a Most Valuable Player season. Snipes is only doing well on one front, his relationship with his young son.

As his life falls apart DeNiro starts fixating on his favorite player and what he can do to help motivate him. After that this film gets truly bizarre.

But DeNiro who probably has more disturbed characters under his creative belt than any other actor around today keeps it all real. He's matched by Wesley Snipes who plays a Barry Bonds like superstar who gets a good life lesson by the end of the film.

In fact Snipes realizes it before the film ends. As he quite realistically says, it's just a game, it's not like we're out there discovering a cure for cancer. The problem is that there are too many out there, fans like DeNiro in sports and in show business who get way too caught up in it.

Look also for nice performances by Ellen Barkin who has a sports phone-in show and John Leguizamo as Snipes's agent and the wisest guy he has around him.