Some aspects of life are beyond me. For example, the bizarre level of devotion and worship some people commit to their local sports team. In Canada, this typically means hockey, but that list can be extend to account for Major League Baseball, the NBA, the CFL, the NFL, or professional soccer. As for me, I’ve never grown a beard during the play-offs, I’ve never revelled in a World Cup soccer win, and the slings and arrows of a professional sporting labour dispute have never had a negative effect on my life. And should you be one of those people that obsessively calculate how many games the Leafs have to win versus how many games their nearest competitors have to lose for a Toronto play-off berth every April, I think this one’s for you.

Last year, Robert D. Siegel’s script, The Wrestler did the improbable. It brought a gaudy, 80s professional wrestler down to earth, and with the help of Academy Award-nominated actor Mickey Rouke, exploited his depressing life for deliberate dramatic effect. But as implausible as it once may have been that Hollywood bad boy Rourke would be considered Oscar calibre, there’s been a long and fine tradition of comedic actors being dissed by the little gold man. I say this because I do think that Patton Oswalt is deserving of some kind of acting recognition for his part in Big Fan, this tale of hero-worship and fandom gone awry. Oswalt does powerful and impressive work here, and taking part in a low budget indie like this shows a great deal of range and commitment.

As for the story, Big Fan trades between laughably zany character moments, and dangerous heartbreaking epiphanies. Oswalt plays Paul Aufiero, a deeply disturbed New York Giants fan that obsessively lives for game day. His self-delusion fuels a false sense of authority on everything that has to do with Giants football. He calls a sports radio talk show to frequently clashes horns with Eagles fan “Philadelphia Phil” (Michael Rapaport). Throughout the film, the two trade pot-shots and talking-points as if they were debating healthcare reform. In reality though, Paul works a dead-end job, lives with his mother, and basically has one friend (Kevin Corrigan). If this sounds like you, stop reading, because what happens to Paul is the fandom equivalent of a composer being crushed under the weight of his prized piano.

Paul meets the giant of Giants, Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm), or rather stalks him from a gas station on Staten Island to a gentlemen’s club in Manhattan. Now, to be fair, “stalking” may be the wrong term. It’s a kind of fan adoration that gives you verbal lockjaw as you work up the courage to talk to the person that means so much to you, be they pro sports hero or high school crush. (Yes, there’s a story to go with that. No, I won’t tell you.) Regardless, Mr. Bishop takes things the wrong way and smacks down his biggest fan - Hard. Paul’s quarterback-induced trip to the hospital becomes a major scandal on the sports’ page. Bishop is benched until the legal issues can be sorted out, which could make Paul singlehandedly responsible for whether or not the Giants make the playoffs. What is a fan to do?

What’s most disturbing is that although Paul’s denial of Bishop’s culpability appears utterly ludicrous, there is undeniably a little logic behind it. Despite the fact that Paul’s brother is a lawyer who spends most of the movie pressuring for a lawsuit, the big fan just doesn’t have it in him to find fault in his hero. In the end, Paul understands that his behaviour crossed some important boundary, but he has also sort of led himself to believe that he deserves the pain that his hero has caused him. There’s a painful allegory to domestic abuse cases here, but again there’s that bizarre combination of understanding and disbelief in Paul’s actions. How many of us, no matter what level of adoration, would let the guy that put us in a coma escape from criminal charges?

Big Fan isn’t really a thinking man’s piece of filmmaking. It’s not really posing any big questions, or trying to make a grand point. It’s a dark comedy at the very least. There’s a lot of humour, especially in seeing people who are essential Monday Morning Quarterbacks talk like they have a stake in anything of personal relevance. It’s also a character piece. In the same way that gritty urban movies of the 70s weren’t so much about the story but as to how the characters manoeuvred within them. Big Fan is well-crafted, and it keeps your attention throughout as you watch Paul scurry through his own personal rat maze. You don’t need to understand sports fans in this movie, but you’ll be riveted nonetheless.