The Fan (1996)

The Fan: Directed by Tony Scott. With Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin, John Leguizamo. An all star baseball player becomes the unhealthy focus of a down on his luck salesman.

“Any other actor might have kept us guessing about where the plot was heading… but we were straight out lucky to have the greatest actor on the planet (thatu0026#39;s Robert De Niro) playing the role of Gil Renard, a baseball freak fixated on centre fielder Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes), who has traded up from Milwaukee to the San Francisco Giants with a wow $40 million contract. For De Niro, maybe, it was just another film role, just another character and yet another, brilliant performance, which would go unnoticed… The term u0026quot;method actingu0026quot; is synonymous with Robert De Niro. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith De Niro, thereu0026#39;s no mystery. He flashes that sicko grin from his seat in Candlestick Park, and we duck. He learns heu0026#39;s about to lose his job selling knives (!), and we know it wonu0026#39;t be long until the stabbing starts. Thatu0026#39;s the problem. You sit down to watch The Fan and wonder how De Niro is going to come up with something new after firing on presidential candidate Leonard Harris in Taxi Driver, kidnapping TV star Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy, torturing lawyer Nick Nolte in Cape Fear and abusing stepson Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boyu0026#39;s Life, to name just a few of the victims De Niro has memorably stalked.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUp till this point, u0026quot;The Fanu0026quot; is badly rated because of Tony Scottu0026#39;s miss-direction, not crappy performances by the cast or anything like a bad plot line. It shows signs of finding fresh life in a stale formula even Jim Carrey couldnu0026#39;t sell with The Cable Guy. De Niro is so persuasive and moving that you wish the film would let him develop the character and dodge the slasher stuff. Itu0026#39;s not to be. The Fan rides with De Niro, (and no one else, okay maybe the kids were fine as well) substituting crass exploitation for insight.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePerhaps the late great directoru0026#39;s brother, Ridley Scott could find gravity in this story; Tony Scott goes for the gore and the box- office gold. He strands his MVP, who is too skilled an actor to let himself get typed. De Niro will never be a typecast. A nut. One more flick like The Fan and he may discover heu0026#39;s created his own Frankenstein monster. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDe Niro is someone we knew from the moment we saw him for the first time on screen: How god damn good he really was…and still is… and can be. The film roles doesnu0026#39;t matter, seriously. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat Bill Clinton Is To fries and a Big Mac, Robert De Niro is to psychos and mobsters. He canu0026#39;t get enough of them. De Niro eats those suckers for breakfast. Maybe he should change his diet after The Fan, (which he did actually). Because sometime you just need to skip your breakfast, you know, just to get your appetite ready for a bigger meal, for lunch. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA pumped-up, pin-headed thriller from slick-trick director, the late Tony Scott, this couldu0026#39;ve been a great film. And u0026quot;Iu0026#39;m as serious as a F**king heart attack!u0026quot;”