"I want every time they think of you to think of me"

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2003)

This is a film that I have to consider underrated. This thing was battered back in 1996 when it was released by movie critics, because of everything from the storyline to the sound track to Robert De Niro's haircut. First of all, the storyline, in my opinion, actually better than what everybody says (it isnt great, but Gigli would be a rated a 6 with a storyline of "The Fan" quality.). Second of all, that is one good sountrack. When you can get all the quality songs from Gimme Shelter to Nine Inch Nails tunes on your soundtrack, you have hit the jackpot. And lastly, De Niro is a great actor, no matter what his haircut is.
OK, all ratings aside, lets get to my full view of the "The Fan". (Spoliers herein).
The story revolves around the frustrated, unemployed Gil Renard (De Niro), who, despite all his problems surrounding his job and family, seems ecstatic about the big aquisition of Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes)from the Atlanta Braves, for $40 million big ones. Renard is a huge Giants fan, the kind of fan who keeps team memorabilia and wears a team watch, and the kind that will skip work just for opening day. Renard isnt doing good at work however, showing up late for work and ignoring the orders of his boss, so he soon becomes a former employee for his company. To make matters worse, he is divorced, and is having troubles with his wife and his young son Richie, who he only gets to see with parenting time.
Deniro is most definately the protagonist here, and a pretty good one too. We follow the Renard character throughout the movie, and his deteroiration too. We find that Renard is a very troubled character, who seems to not be able to handle the curve balls thrown at him in life (he proves this with the comment "baseball is better than life. its fair"). He is also very obsessive too, especially when he talks about how him and Coop could have made the big leagues.
If there is anything wrong with this movie, it is the overuse of the music. Certain points deserved music (ie. the bug getting stabbed, the Gimme Shelter scene), but there was way too much music played in this movie, possibly more than i have ever heard in one movie before. The acting here was great, Deniro turned in another great performance, with Snipes and company turning in good supporting roles.
Overall, a good movie, one that shouldn't be taken too seriously, but rather should be watched as some entertainment.
7/10