Patton Oswalt can do no wrong. He's the only living stand up comedian, other than Louis CK, worth paying attention to. All the others (Hicks, Pryor, Kinison, Hedberg, Carlin, etc) are dead. So to Patton and Louis, please don't die. Now BIG FAN... (shpoilers ahead) BIG FAN is a standard boilerplate indie film. The story feels like Gallo's Buffalo 66 meets Mangold's Heavy. It does not promise much, but delivers exactly on what it does promise. And for that it is commendable. Patton is solid and should act. The main flaw, however, is that Paul (Patton) has no arc. None. After getting to know Paul it would be nice to see him a tad closer to what he needs (like Billy and Vincent respectively in the above exs.) I understand that the film's statement is probably "some people don't change; some fight for the equilibrium they want, not the one that they need". Ok. Got it. But do WE need to be told this? Why? So Paul "wins", Patton wins, and the filmmaker wins. Does the viewer?