Release Date: August 16, 1996
Starring: Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin, John
Leguizamo, Benicio Del Toro, Patti D'Arbanville, Andrew J. Ferchland,
Brandon Hammond
Directed by: Tony Scott
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Entertainment / TriStar Pictures
MPAA Rating: R (strong language throughout, some intense violence)
Star vehicles are movies that should not be made, and there's plenty of evidence against them. Often they become dismal box office failures (the largest and grandest bust of them all was 1995's Waterworld), and they do not conform to the standards of filmmaking that other movies are held to. But certain names guarantee a minimum of ticket sales, and for most studio executives, the chance to land two of these red-hot names in The Fan is simply outstanding. Unfortunately, the presence of both Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes, as well as that of renowned action director Tony Scott (Crimson Tide, Top Gun) don't guarantee anything.
Snipes stars as Bobby Rayburn, a star center fielder just acquired by the San Francisco Giants in an offseason trade. Of course, as the product of a multimillion dollar contract, Rayburn takes heat from fans and sportswriters when he doesn't perform. Rayburn does have the undying loyalty of Giants superfan Gil Renard (De Niro), a knife salesman whose obsession with baseball is unparalleled. Soon, however, Gil becomes disenfranchised when he realizes that Rayburn has no appreciation of the fans, and when coupled with the child-custody battles he has with his estranged wife, Gil undergoes a nervous breakdown. He loses his job, and soon becomes irrational in his quest for a little attention.
It's obvious that Scott's directing style was made for a much quicker movie. The Fan does not exude a sense of speed, and at times it even seems disoriented. The standalone performances of Snipes and De Niro are not nearly as good as those under stricter direction, and so the audience never really cares about either of the characters. Instead, Scott seems to go for a shock mentality, by which he can scare the viewer with Gil's outrageous actions but never really build up any solid thrills. The atmosphere is also marginal, punctuated by the strains of garish, metal guitar and harsh lighting. About the only thing to be appreciated is Dariusz Wolski's photography, which features grand, sweeping shots of (then) Candlestick Park that lend a majestic quality to the game of baseball.
The Phoef Sutton script, which is based upon the novel by Peter Abrahams, is adaquate but not tight enough. Although it starts out strong -- Sutton has De Niro reading some poetry at the outset and develops the character of Gil nicely -- it weakens as the movie goes on and searches for an ending. The two-hour running time is perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes too long, and by the time things are wrapped up there's no sense of containment left. Instead, the script and direction have spun inexplicably out of control, and the ending is indeed less than par.
It's obvious that Scott, Sutton, and the execs at TriStar were hoping for a cult hit with The Fan. With only flashy thrills going for it, however, this isn't the one that viewers will flock to video stores for. In the end, it's only good as an argument against star vehicles.
all contents © 1996 Craig Roush