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Sprinkle Some Fries on those Cupcakes

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (31)

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Back in April, I reviewed Big Fan when it was screened at the Boston Independent Film Festival. It’s a Robert Siegel film (he wrote The Wrestler) about an obsessed fan of the New York Giants (Patton Oswalt) who has a very bad encounter with his favorite player. And what I remember most about the comments in that review is that one Mr. Skittimus Maximus really wanted to see the trailer, and he expressed as much in a way that strangely mirrored Oswalt’s obsession with the football player:

I’ve heard about this for a while now. Where the hell is a goddam trailer? Where? WHERE’S A TRAILER ROWLES? COME ON! GIMME A FRIGGIN’ LINK!

…

It’s been thirty minutes since my last post requesting a trailer. I’ve hit refresh twenty-three times. I’ve cross-referenced Pajiba on Facebook as well. My interest in seeing a film about an obsessive fan is waning.

Just checked Facebook again. Nothing…

…

I’ll be outside your joint later. No hurry. Just give me the link. Actually, I’ll just let myself in.
Actually, you can post the link for the trailer on my Facebook page. It’s me again. Skitz. Just checking.
Hi, uh, Dustin, this is Skitz. I started commenting, um, little over a year ago. I’m just wanted to say that I’ve had a great time… and you should post that trailer tomorrow, or in two days, whatever. Anyway, you know my email…
Hi, Dustin, this is Skitz again. Could you just call me when you see this? I’m gonna be up for awhile and I’d just rather speak to you in person instead of trying to fit it all into -
Hi, Dustin, I just refreshed cuz I thought your site might’ve cut me off when I, before I finished commenting. Anyway, uh, and, y’know, and also, sorry to post so many times, but you were still posting new stories when I last checked so I knew you’d see this. Anyhow, uh, my ema …
Shit. I hit “post comment” before I was done. That’s it. I just wanna see the trailer. I didn’t want you to think I was weird or desperate, or… we should just hang out and see where it goes cuz it’s nice and, y’know, no expectations. Ok? Thanks a lot. Bye bye. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m sorry… This is Skitz.

It went on for a little while longer, but I think you get the point. Well buddy, it’s three months late, but here’s your Big Fan trailer. I hope it was worth the wait.









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Comments

Gah! No sound on the PC.

Maybe I should start pestering Dustin for a transcript...

Posted by: Amanda at July 7, 2009 10:10 AM

Holy shit, that looks really good. Plus I can pick up some pointers.

I love you Brian Boitano. Um...errr....I mean, I'm a really big fan.

Posted by: admin at July 7, 2009 10:18 AM

(sigh) Huge, scary black guy beats up harmless white mope. Oh, bigotry. You make our films, you sell our products, you elect our leaders. Is there nothing you can't do?

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at July 7, 2009 10:23 AM

I just want to applaud Skitz for the spot-on Swingers spoof.

Also, that looks great, but I do love me some Patton Oswalt.

Posted by: Macafee at July 7, 2009 10:24 AM

Does anyone else worry that this trailer screams "I'M ACTING" way too loud? I'm betting that the script will be great but Patton is going to really have to impress me.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at July 7, 2009 10:26 AM

Oh, bigotry. You make our films, you sell our products, you elect our leaders. Is there nothing you can't do?

You can't hug your kids with bigotry. No, wait, that's nuclear arms.

Posted by: branded at July 7, 2009 10:29 AM

You can't hug your kids with bigotry. No, wait, that's nuclear arms.

I repectfully disagree. It's how my kids maintain a healthy glow.

Posted by: admin at July 7, 2009 10:48 AM

Is it bigotry, really? I mean, it's not unreasonable to cast a black dude as a star NFL player, and it's not unreasonable to depict a star NFL player as a hard-partying, super-violent prick with a hair trigger. I think it's more of a comment on professional sports players in general than it is about race.

Or am I just reading it wrong?

Posted by: Paul Southworth at July 7, 2009 10:50 AM

It's probably unfair to paint all pro athletes with that brush. But I suspect Quantrell Bishop (ooh, let's give him a screwy name to really alienate him from the audience) will be little more than a cipher. I wouldn't be surprised if he never appears in the movie again. At least from the clip, Bishop isn't really human, he's just a hyper-violent monster and that plays right into the usual stereotypes about black men. Maybe Bishop has perfectly good reasons to be paranoid about strangers walking up to him in nightclubs; former Giants CB William Peterson (nee James) got jacked for $21,000 worth of jewelery outside a nightclub a few years ago. Former Jaguars OT Richard Collier is a quadriplegic after getting shot after a fight at a nightclub. Again, this is just speculation based on a two-minute trailer, but I'm willing to bet we've already seen all the character development Quantrell Bishop is going to get.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at July 7, 2009 11:06 AM

Again, is it really a racial stereotype, or is it just a stereotype of pro contact-sport athletes?

Posted by: Lindsay at July 7, 2009 11:46 AM

I'm going to guess somebody used my name to write that, as I am of perfectly sound mind & body and can't imagine myself doing anything like that. I blame Conrad, Michael Bay, Stanley Sobrienskimeyer, or Nosferatu. They're peckers...

Thanks for the trailer though. Nobody quite pulls off schlub as exquisitely as Oswalt, Giamatti and P.S. Hoffman.

Posted by: Skitz at July 7, 2009 11:49 AM

Oh Patton, this character is why I refuse to visit my dad's new digs on Shaolin. Crazy bunch of fuckers living on that island.

Posted by: JenVegas at July 7, 2009 12:17 PM

I agree Tracer that Quantrell will not show up again. He's just an element (and he's in a strip club...apparently Ray Lewis and Pac Man Jones were the only available references) - the movie is about the fucked up relationship between the hard core WFAN fan and the game that does not really give a fuck. What if the cop were black though? Instead of casting the boiler plate grizzled veteran (TM) what if they cast a younger black man in the role as a counterweight? At least them there is the possibility of a discussion about class and influence rather than a straight up racial dialog?
And the hard partying super violent prick with a hair trigger? Usually doesn't last at the pro-level. They don't have the discipline-I'm looking at you Ryan Leaf, and you Lawrence Phillips.

Posted by: Mrcreosote at July 7, 2009 12:34 PM

Sure, this could stand as an indictment of pro athletes in general. But somebody chose to make the villain a black character and chose to give him what could be called a "black" name. It appears the rest of the cast is white. Surely the director had to know the majority, if not the entirety, of his audience would be white. I can't believe "Quantrell Bishop" happened by accident and if it wasn't an accident, we have to wonder exactly what the writer and/or director was trying to say about black athletes and possibly about black men in general.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at July 7, 2009 1:08 PM

Shit, bigotry, really? Ok, I guess so. I think it's more of a bias than any kind of active bigotry, but maybe that's worse. Crap, I think you might be spot on. Dammit! Still this isn't Haggis-level tripe, but damn...

Anywho, looks like a good movie. I'm surprised Oswalt has got that in him. Good for him.

Posted by: jpguy13 at July 7, 2009 2:16 PM

I read an interview in The AV Club where the director and Oswalt claimed the inspiration for this movie came from the desire to warn people about the deviousness of the black race. They said they didn't care if it won awards or made money, only if it spiked enrollment in the KKK and got people not to re-elect Obama.

Posted by: Midnight Monkey Madness at July 7, 2009 3:52 PM

that actually looks really damn good.

Posted by: randy at July 7, 2009 4:31 PM

I saw a black kid today with a black name and I went over to his mother and called her a bigot for not giving her son a nice Aryan name.

Posted by: Liz Frintz at July 7, 2009 6:33 PM

i need a trigger warning for trailers like that. the stereotypes are obvious and tired, as well as the comments supporting the film.

Posted by: susiemoss at July 7, 2009 6:35 PM

Coolness, Midnight. I was wondering if that very trope would figure into the narrative arc of the story. Thanks for the post.

Optimus, I had that same thought. The screaming, the vacant stare into the abyss, the score. Heck, even the colour scheme says,'Middlebrow'. But I think that on the whole it looks pretty good. If it turns out to be a quality time, I hope we aren't bombarded by overly-enthusiastic media coverage. I didn't even see JUNO and I don't have a television, so that cut down on my exposure. And yet, I was soooooo sick of the Sunny-Twee Onslaught from Hell.

I just hope it doesn't turn out to a Sam Mendes film. Pull my nails out, and toss me into a pit of fire like a seventeenth century lady-in-waiting before that happens. Ugh.

Ugh. Let's have a moment of silence for the era which was free from the scourge that is known as Declamatory Melancholy the Turgid, and His Fucking Whiny-Ass wife.

I don't care if you think she's sacrosanct, ugh, okay? Hey, did you know that she was chubby when she was a kid? She had to share a van with Jewel, yeah, that was the business. Lady, instead of wasting your voice choking down sob stories, why don't you work on your American accent. Or just, maybe, shut up? Wrap a taste on that, okies?

Look, I'm not saying that she isn't skilled, and I don't really subscribe to the notion that actors are only allowed to speak when it's on a screen. I mean, I get it, she wants to be approachable and somewhat align herself with the everyday woman-- she has insecurities! But this story mouldered a long time ago.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at July 7, 2009 6:52 PM

rascism is exciting!

Posted by: gp at July 7, 2009 8:04 PM

I don't know about racial stereotyping...but damn if this movie doesn't STANK! of misogyny what with all those women dancing at the strip club and chillin' in the VIP with pro athletes. Cuz, ya know, there isn't a woman on earth who would take off her clothes for money or bang a football player with money just cuz she wants to say she did. Fucking misogynists.

Racist misogynists.

Racist, misogynist, polygamist, philatelists.

Posted by: PissBoy at July 7, 2009 8:52 PM

What about the stereotype of the schlubby, white, sports-talk radio calling, half-retarded superfan douchebag who still lives with his by god mother? Just saying that stereotyping works both ways, folks. Please, please save your tired PC speechifying for something that deserves it. Thanks.

Posted by: stryker1121 at July 7, 2009 8:58 PM

Everyone knows stamp collectors are racist whores, PissBoy.

Posted by: figgy at July 7, 2009 9:29 PM

Gotdamn that some racsist shit right there. I aks y'all. Any you mutha fuckas done seen any shit that be as fucked up as that right there? I done with this shit. Mutha fuckin' stereo types. I'mma get me some watermelon... Shit!

Posted by: Lil' Sambo at July 7, 2009 10:31 PM

Wow....

The movie is racist because the football player is black? Really? I mean...I guess it's me but, how many of you even watch football on Sundays? The VAST majority of GOOD players are black...just a fact. And if it were about a white kicker beating the shit out of a stupid obsessed fan, well...you would be saying how unrealistic it is.

The fan could have been black, but I am sure that the racial overtones will be mentioned in the film as just another reason this buffoon should sue the player and press charges. It makes for better storytelling.

All that being said....did I just take something entirely meant to be a joke and get all hot and bothered or is there really some overly sensitive assh0le out there that is actually offended by this trailer?

Posted by: Mr. Poopie Pants at July 7, 2009 10:54 PM

Who knows Mr. Poopie Pants. I've certainly had a run in with at least one overly sensitive dick bag on this site that felt the need to "school" me on humour because I made fun of Catholicism. Those South Park guys better hope they don't run in to him/her. Other than that one occasion, I love this place and I don't imagine that anyone here would be seriously offended by that trailer.

Posted by: Dexter Morgan at July 8, 2009 12:52 AM

I think it looks pretty fucking funny, but im brown so seeing a white guy get pounded by a black guy is pretty neutral to my people .

Just fucking funny.

Posted by: gilp at July 8, 2009 1:44 AM

A two(ish? didn't check) minute trailer is not NEARLY enough material to get worked up and start crying racial stereotyping over. We get next to nothing of how Bishop - or any other minority characters - may be treated in the film.

The trailer piqued my curiosity. I want to see this film now. And in doing that, the trailer has achieved everything it has to. Nothing more, nothing less.

Posted by: Daniel Hall at July 8, 2009 4:38 AM

Well said Daniel. What exactly is the point in going off on ridiculous rants based on what you imagine may happen in a film you haven't seen?

Posted by: Uncle Mikey at July 8, 2009 8:34 AM

Ohhhh, Tracer Bullet. How you probably wish you had just kept your mouth shut and not even posted.

Posted by: Midnight Monkey Madness at July 8, 2009 11:33 AM