The Fan (1996)

Dir Tony Scott

Robert DeNiro, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin, John Leguizamo, Benicio Del Toro.

Gil (DeNiro) is a San Francisco Giants fan, and one of the newest team members is Bobby Rayburn (Snipes) a young player Gil is a big fan of. As his personal life starts to fall apart, when he loses his job and his family want space from him – he starts to obsess over the games he attends, and his obsession grows with Rayburn. 

Above average 90s psychological thriller, has some great performances from the two leads. DeNiro does a stellar performance as the man whose obsession with the game of baseball becomes the obsession with his favourite player.

Some decent support cast like Barkin, Leguizamo and Del Toro are a little underused, some for ‘reasons’ that occur during the film.

There is a pretty decent score by Hans Zimmer, which at times is used under some pretty solid narration by DeNiro, and during some of the exciting moments of the game. As an Australian, we have very little audience for baseball, but this was one of the better baseball movies that I’ve watched.

I recommend this film, a really good watch.

3.5/5