This Weekend’s Film Festival – Sports Crazy

With the Super Bowl this weekend, leading up to the big game, This Weekend's Film Festival delves into the world of obsessed fandom. A loser's entire life revolves around the New York Giants. An Arsenal soccer fan has trouble balancing between his girlfriend and his team. A Red Sox fan makes all his life decisions around his team's schedule. Female Iranian soccer fans risk prison to attend a World Cup qualifying game. Soccer hooligans beat rival team fans for the fun of it.

Starting with writing THE WRESTLER and now with BIG FAN, former THE ONION editor-in-chief Robert D. Siegel has began his feature film career with unusual sports films. Now directing as well, he creates a tale about an obsessed football fan named Paul Aufiero, played wonderfully by Patton Oswalt. He works as a parking lot attendant so that he can spend time writing out lengthy rants for a late-night sports radio program. His sports obsessed friend Sal (Kevin Corrigan) idolizes his radio performances. One night they see their favorite player Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm) and follow him to a club, which leads to the quarterback beating Paul into a comma. When he wakes up, his first priority is protecting his beloved Giants. In this satirical and subtle character piece, Siegel paints a picture of a man who has found a way to fit in that has indirectly alienated him from family and normal society. The film watches as he struggles with pulling his life together after his hero smashed his dreams and his rival Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport) has fuel to ripe on him. As I said in my original review, "When Paul puts on face paint, it makes one think of a warrior preparing for battle. But where is the war zone? In Philly, or in Paul?"

For Saturday, we have two different takes on Nick Hornby's autobiographical book, FEVER PITCH. The 1997 British version is closer to the original novel only fictionalizing the characters. Paul Ashworth, played perfectly by Colin Firth, became obsessed with the Arsenal soccer team when his father took him to his first match. He's been in love with them for so long he is consumed with them winning. Each loss is like a broken promise. He's a teacher and soccer couch and comfortable with his current level of limited responsibility. A new teacher, named Sarah Hughes (Ruth Gemmell), comes to the school and can't see herself falling for the soccer hooligan, but she does fall for his passion, which flows from soccer to other parts of his life. Though he isn't very mature, he has a good heart. David Evans' film shows how Paul came out of his shell and connected to people through the common love of soccer, but on the flipside, it also shows how it has emotional trapped him in a juvenile emotional state. As I said in my original review, "The film doesn’t make excuses for Paul; it just shows him for whom he is. But more importantly the film shows why he is the way he is. Because Sarah comes to understand so does the audience."

In 2005, the Farrelly Brothers created an American version of FEVER PITCH, changing soccer to baseball. Ben (Jimmy Fallon) has been going to Boston Red Sox games ever since he has a kid, suffering as they fail to win a World Series year after year. Unlike Paul in the soccer version of the tale, Ben hides his obsession from strangers, because he is uncertain how they will react to his Red Sox filled apartment. When he meets the busy businesswoman Lindsey (Drew Barrymore), it's the off season and their relationship blossoms. But living with him becomes a challenge when spring arrives and Ben begins to live and breathe baseball. This version of the tale makes the obsessed fan more aware of his behavior and more willing to change. But as I said in my original review, "The film truly understands the nature of obsessing on one pastime and how others react to that passion... I loved the scene when Ben takes Lindsey to her first game. He knows all the people around him. They related the losing history of the team with a sad reverence. It’s their shared misery." Win or lose, they love and hate their team at the same time.

None of the fans above risk going to prison for their obsessions, but the women in Jafar Panahi's OFFSIDE do just that. In Iran, women are barred from attending men's sporting events. Those in power are afraid that the women will hear cursing from the male fans. This existential comedy looks at a group of women who dress up like boys to attend a World Cup qualifying match. First timers are easy to pick out. Some of the veteran women look more convincing but are still eventually caught and placed in a holding pen just outside of view of the field. One of the girls plays and knows more about the game than the men. One ingenious girl dresses up like a soldier and gets to see the whole first half. The soldiers guarding them aren't committed to the law, but simply want to enforce it so they can get out of their national service without problems. The ridiculous laws allow women from other countries to attend matches and force foreign male coaches of women's teams to coach via cellphones outside the stadium. As I said in my original review, "There is a patriotic irony about the whole story. These women are viewed as criminals against the State, but they are willing to risk imprisonment to root for their national soccer team."

Lexi Alexander's GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS is the best film about obsessed fans I've ever seen. Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) has been kicked out of Harvard and goes to London to live with his sister. He gets wrapped up with her brother-in-law Pete (Charlie Hunnam), who is part of a violent football firm for the Green Street Elite. These young men might rally around a soccer team, but they're no different than any street gang. As I said in my original review, "…the film presents both sides of the issue. It doesn’t downplay the rush and camaraderie that draws members to join, but ends on the pointlessness and consequences of not knowing when enough is enough. The film is not afraid to have Matt make 'wrong' decisions and learn positive things from them. Yet, it never downplays or overly glorifies the realities of the violence as well." Young men join the firms early, usually following in the footsteps of their fathers and brothers. Like many obsessed fans, the obsession makes them part of a makeshift family, where loyalty is demanded and strong bonds are formed around one common love. The violence these men will commit over a sports team shows the extremes to which fandom can go.

To play with these fans simply head to the videostore, update the Netflix queue, check out HelloMovies.com for streaming sites, visit Zap2It.com for TV listings, or support the site by purchasing the films on DVD at the links below.