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66 reviews in total

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35 out of 38 people found the following review useful:
"Baseball Is Better Than Life, Because It's Fair...", 3 April 2001

Author: jhclues from Salem, Oregon

It may be true that everyone during their lifetime has fifteen minutes of fame, even if in most cases it only lasts about a minute and a half. And if that minute and a half comes early in life, how far into adulthood can you carry it with you, and when does a healthy memory become an obsession that finally blurs the line between reality and fantasy? `The Fan,' directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes, is an intense and disturbing motion picture that examines that moment and the effects it can have on the lives of those either directly or indirectly involved. Here, the focus is on one Gil Renard (De Niro), a knife salesman in San Francisco and a die-hard Giants fan who is pumped about the acquisition during the off-season of superstar centerfielder Bobby Rayburn (Snipes), whom he believes will bring a pennant to the team. Once a player himself-- a pitcher-- Renard's life has since been on a downhill slide. Divorced, he has a young, little league aged son, Richie (Andrew J. Ferchland), with whom he has an unsettling relationship, and at work, his sales have been so poor his job is on the line. An angry, disturbed individual, Renard has reached a pivotal point in his life; for inspiration, he continually returns to the philosophies of the catcher from his playing days, Coop (Charles Hallahan), whom he considers one of the finest athletes he ever knew. And as his life continues to deteriorate, his obsessions begin to add further to the imbalance of his perceptions of reality, which finally lead him past a point of no return.

Scott's film, of course, has less to do with baseball than it does with how the game itself actually relates to life and the things that really matter. As Rayburn says at one point, `We're not curing cancer here.' But to those to whom life has been reduced to that minute and a half to which they still cling, the game can be everything. And it is just that unhealthy obsession that Scott examines in this film, that comparatively insignificant moment that in the obsessive mind becomes an episode of monumental importance that finally distorts any semblance of reality the individual may have left. What's truly frightening is that upon close scrutiny, in Renard there is much with which many viewers will be able to relate in one way or another: The anger, the frustration and perhaps the inability to let go of that minute and a half, even when it threatens to become more than just a pleasant memory, but an unhealthy lifeline to another place and another time that, in reality, may never have existed in the first place. It's like a search for self-esteem by the has-been-who-never-was, who can neither realize nor accept it's elusiveness. As Renard says to Richie, `Baseball is better than life, because it's fair. You hit a sacrifice fly and it doesn't count against your average.' An ideal that has forever eluded Renard; in his life, he's never been able to `give himself up for the team' and get anything in return for it.

As Renard, De Niro gives an explosive performance that at first glance may seem to have a bit of Travis Bickle and Max Cady in it-- which in fact it does-- though upon closer inspection, Renard is a unique character. Those with a disturbed mind may have traits in common, as these characters De Niro has portrayed certainly do; but De Niro has successfully given each of them an individual personality, and when viewed side by side, the differences are readily apparent. Bickle may be a sociopath, Cady a cold blooded killer; but Renard is a man who was just never able to get a handle on his life and has allowed his obsessions to dictate the choices he has made along the way. De Niro is simply a master of his craft, with the ability to make his characters so real that a performance like this one is often overlooked; this is Oscar worthy work for which he never received the acclaim he was due. His Renard is so like someone you would run into in your everyday life that in retrospect, it's scary. But it's the kind of performance we've come to expect from De Niro, and as usual, he does not disappoint.

Wesley Snipes, as well, gives a solid performance as Rayburn that is one of his best ever, which is not surprising when you consider with whom he was working. If you study De Niro's films, you may discover a common thread running through them with regard to his co-stars. De Niro has the ability to make those with whom he is working better; and it's something that stays with them forever after. Consider Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep before `The Deer Hunter,' or Ed Harris before `Jacknife.' Certainly they were exceptional talents before, but they have arguably been better since. And Snipes is no exception. Nor is Benicio Del Toro (Recipient of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for `Traffic'), who gives a memorable turn here as Rayburn's rival outfielder, Juan Primo.

The supporting cast includes Patti D'Arbanville (Ellen),Ellen Barkin (Jewel), John Leguizamo (Manny), Chris Mulkey (Tim), Dan Butler (Garrity) and Brandon Hammond (Sean). A thought provoking thriller that gives some real insight into the cause and effect of the psyche of human nature, `The Fan' is like an open wound that may hit too close to home for some. And to dismiss this as just a `baseball' movie or another `action' flick would be a mistake, for there is much more here than meets the eye. In the end, those who pay attention will ultimately reap the rewards it proffers. I rate this one 9/10.

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21 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
"A Simple Thank You Would Have Been Nice", 26 September 2001
Author: mr_doright11 from Gresham, Oregon

This movie wasn't as bad as everyone says. I think it's safe to say that I am a fan of Robert De Niro, and that will certainly help if you like Robert De Niro to enjoy this movie. But I didn't enjoy this movie solely on the fact that I like De Niro, I thought Snipes gave an equally choice performance. The thrills in this movie were small, but they were satisfying. The ending is, without a doubt, the best part. There were other good thrills though, like the freezer scene.

I must say that I liked this movie a good deal. Its is not without its flaws, but in order to enjoy this movie, and a lot of other movies for that matter, you must look past the flaws, and just take it for what it is. Enjoy this movie for its handful of thrills, decent acting, and great music (I am a big fan of the Rolling Stones also). This is a good no-brainer with a creepy overtone, so just watch it for its pros, not its cons. 8/10

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Underrated. DeNiro plays another great S.O.B, 23 November 2007

Author: DarthVoorhees from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The Fan is the polar opposite of Field of Dreams and I loved it. Baseball movies have no spine to them whatsoever, they tend to all ways follow the same Pride of the Yankees formula where Baseball is a fraternal sport in which everything is okay. The Fan digs deeper.

Robert DeNiro plays Gil Bernard an odd knife salesman who loses the visitation rights to be with his son. Bernard vents his rage by following his San Francisco Giants religiously. Gil becomes obsessed with Bobby Rayburn, the Giants' new top paid center fielder. Rayburn believes in jinxes and wants his lucky jersey number back to end a slump. Gil gets it for him by killing his teammate. Gil confronts Rayburn who says his change of luck was due to his not caring anymore. Gil goes berserk and threatens to kill Rayburn's son if he doesn't due a Babe Ruth and hit a homer for him.

DeNiro represents the Fan who turns to MLB as an escape from real life. His Gil is a tragic character who only lives for the game and focuses on what he could have been and what he wants to force his son to become. We don't necessarily agree with him but we can better see what makes this villain tick.

Snipes Rayburn isn't a bad guy but he like the Arod's of day let's the fame get to his head. He undergoes a perspective change through the film as he questions what the game means to him.

The Fan is a great dark satire of baseball. We see all the aspects that are there but are so often ignored. The greed of the players and their agents, the sports writers eager to sink their teeth into the slumping hitter, and the fathers who try to pressure their children to live their athletic dreams through them.

My one complaint about the film is it's ending. It just seems far too over the top and unrealistic. Gil shouldn't have received that much attention at his death, it should have been a private confrontation between him and Rayburn.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Not a perfect film, but I enjoyed it, 4 August 2000

Author: EmpressR from Maryland, USA

While I agree with some of the previous comments about the lack of attention to detail and the confusing cinematography, I really did enjoy this movie. The story itself is not particularly original and the ending is weak -- but I thought the build-up of Gil's (De Niro) character to be quite effective. Although Gil was what one would typically label a loser, I couldn't help but feel for the guy. Many movies about psychos/stalkers fail to give you any insight into why he's doing all these bad things -- all you know is that he's not a nice guy. This movie did a great job of portraying how Gil's volatile personality, his obsession with the baseball and with Bobby (Snipes) in particular, and his loss of everything else that mattered to him, ultimately led him to do what he did.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
It's Just A Game, 29 November 2008

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

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.

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11 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
De Niro makes it all worthwhile (just), 30 April 2001

Author: Geofbob from London, England

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.

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12 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Seen It All Before, 13 September 2004

Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland

In THE FAN Robert De Niro plays Gil Renard . Or is it Travis Bickle ? or Rupert Pupkin ? Or Max Cady ? You see the problem with this type of role is that De Niro has played very very similar characters in TAXI DRIVER , THE KING OF COMEDY and CAPE FEAR and unfortunately the characters were better developed and had better scripts . I found it slightly difficult to believe that Renard would have started out as a frustrated obsessive sports fan into being an out and out psycho

The character arc isn't the only problem with this script - It also lacks a character focus ( A problem I had with THE UNTOUCHABLES where De Niro should have been superb but ended up slightly flat ) , for several stretches of the movie I kept thinking that Bobby Rayburn was the main character then the story switches back to Renard . It also seems to have disappointed a lot of sports fans who seem to think this should have concentrated a bit more on baseball . I'm not sure if this was meant to appeal to baseball fans originally but again there are elements which hint it might have if the producers had made up their minds has to who and what the story should focus upon

I will admit I was entertained by THE FAN ( Especially by the soundtrack ) but it is a very flawed film and it should be remembered that by the mid 1990s characters being stalked by nutters as in SINGLE WHITE FEMALE , UNLAWFUL ENTRY etc had run out of steam a long time ago

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Death of a salesman, 8 April 2008

Author: jotix100 from New York

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Gil Renard's passion for baseball consumes him. In fact, the sport he loves seems to get the best of him. His own marriage has failed dismally; he is involved in an acrimonious divorce and his son seems to have taken to the new man in his mother's life. Gil, who is a sporting knives salesman, has problems with his clients to the point that his boss has no other alternative than to get rid of him.

What is Gil supposed to do? When his idol, Bobby Rayburn is hired for the San Francisco Giants, as an outfielder, Gil feels his team will have a chance for the pennant. His obsession will get the best of him. He even tries to influence another player into switching uniform numbers with his new idol. When all that fails, Gil decides to take a different path and ends up stalking Rayburn with terrible consequences.

"The Fan", directed by Tony Scott starts on an upbeat note. The film based on a Peter Abrahams book we didn't read, with a screenplay by Phoef Sutton, plays well until it has Gil Renard going nuts when his whole world crumbles.

Robert Deniro, under Mr. Scott's direction, does what he can to the script that has him playing the deranged Gil in ways that doesn't help the film. It's fun to watch Mr. Deniro impersonating Gil Renard, whose passion for the American pastime ruins his life. We get a hint of how he got involved in the sport at the end of the movie. Wesley Snipes makes one of the best appearances of his career. In minor roles we see a wasted Ellen Barkin, Benicio del Toro and John Leguizamo, among others.

This is a film for Mr. Deniro's fans.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
not that bad, 14 April 2000
Author: schmucko from rural IN

okay, this is hardly a great movie, but it does have an interesting premise, and the script is suitably interesting. for one thing, it's interesting that de niro's character, ostensibly the protagonist, is so thoroughly unlikable (and, in fact, the villain when all is said and done). it's a pretty rare film in which we follow the psychotic villain around.

the soundtrack, which was heavy on nine inch nails, was very well used. the scene in which de niro throws his knife to kill a bug on a wall was made ten times cooler by the climactic NIN track that accompanied it.

cinematographically, though, the movie was pretty strange, and at times confusing (when i don't think it was trying to be)... the sauna murder scene was filmed as though it were a dream--first with de niro flashing back to his (incorrect) version of the events that preceded the killing, and then the slow-mo, again NIN-accompanied, act itself. it took me about five minutes to realize that it had actually happened.

from a baseball standpoint, as a couple of others have mentioned, the game scenes are pretty ridiculous. every time someone hits the ball, scott cuts to a shot in which a ball is seen arcing as though thrown by someone with a bad arm. i was, however, pretty pleased to see the names of real baseball players in the stunt crew credits.

overall, this movie is a pretty cut-and-dried psychological thriller--not too horribly bad, but not with anything particularly new to offer either. it's probably worth a rent.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
De Niro steals the show!, 9 July 2003

Author: oldsaurora from Toronto, Canada

The Worst Baseball Movie of All-Time? I don't know how anyone can say this with a straight face if they have also seen Major League.

It's true that the ending of this film is pretty bad, but when a film can do so much right for the first two hours that certainly makes it worthwhile, because the first two hours were truly entertaining. De Niro stole the show, he had to because this move was about "The Fan", but each character was played well.

Most of the criticisms I've seen are a case of people being way too picky. Wrong uniforms, wrong stadiums...I didn't even notice stuff like this and I am a baseball fan too. The film got a lot of the much more important stuff right, which is good performances from the actors and good, no great, character development and insight into these characters.

The film took us into deep the mind of the obsessed fan (De Niro) and that obsession grows in a logical fashion as the movie progresses. It was very easy to believe De Niro's obsession with Rayburn and the game of baseball, and the rationale for it, because of his unstable and violent nature which is often shown in his personal life. When things in the baseball world weren't going as he wanted them, it's not surprising to see him take action. His passion and intensity were on the front burner all movie long and made his character truly believeable and consistent.

The film takes us into the baseball player culture in the lockeroom, and into the workings of player and agent (which is what I really found interesting), as well as player and radio station personality. This is where the film truly excelled: the inner workings of the mind and the baseball player culture were believable and exceptionally well done. Nothing was made silly or outrageous, like in the aforementioned dud "Major League". Well, except for the ending perhaps, which is where this film loses 2 points.

8/10

My first De Niro movie, definitely not my last.

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