In "Big Fan," an independent film about an obsessed fan's life following his favorite team, the New York Giants, we see two worlds collide that rarely do: the athlete and those who help pay his massive salary. Oh sure, fans might feel like they are closer to the action than ever; the Internet and talk radio — the main vice of protagonist Paul ­Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) — make the fan an integral part of sports.

But how close are they to the action?

"I think now fans probably feel more connected to the teams they follow," said writer-director Robert Siegel. "They have all these new means — blogs and fantasy football — but they're really no closer than before. In the old days, Giants fans probably could have had a beer with Y.A. Tittle.

"Fans today probably feel like they are closer, but I think it's more of an illusion."

Siegel, who earned fame last year for writing the Oscar-nominated "The Wrestler," makes a subtle gesture toward this illusion. He shows his 35-year-old main character, a parking garage attendant who lives at home with his mother, and best friend Sal (Kevin Corrigan) watching games in the Giants Stadium parking lot on a TV plugged into the cigarette lighter.

Oh, they're big fans all right. They live, breathe and plan their depressing weeks around their team, especially star LB Quantrell Bishop (Jonathan Hamm). And while Paul's family might hate that he's a loser with a dead-end job, he likes his sad, little life and just wishes everyone could see that and leave him alone.

In his mind, his life has meaning, and the fact that he's on a first-name basis with the producer of the local sports-talk station and takes hours to strategize and script out his on-air rants shows he's passionate about something. On air, he is a bit of a minor celebrity, "Paul from Staten Island" who is most often heard dueling barbs with Eagles fan "Philadelphia Phil" (Michael Rappaport).

But it's when Paul and Sal try to connect with the athletes' world that things go awry. They see Bishop filling up his tank in Staten Island and decide to follow him to a Manhattan strip club. When Paul approaches the player whose poster appears over his bed, ­Bishop beats the snot out of him. Badly injured and hospitalized, Paul faces a dilemma: Does he press charges against his hero, which would lead to a suspension? Or does he let it blow over?

Siegel wrote "Big Fan" in 2002, so there is no real-life inspiration of Plaxico Burress in the movie, as many have thought.

"It's not modeled after anyone specific," he said. "(The Burress story) adds a nice layer to it. But anytime in the last 20 years, there would have been some athlete scandal. At the time I wrote it, people thought it was based on Ron Artest."

The NFL is aware of "Big Fan," and the Giants had to sign off on the movie — it uses real team merchandise and, except for the Bishop character, real player names. For Siegel, realism was crucial.

"It takes me out of a movie when they use fake names — the New York Dragons and Washington Warlords, with purple uniforms. It just feels wrong. These teams are part of our culture. I wouldn't have made it if I had to use fake teams."

This realism creates a dark, bleakly funny drama that puts the fan under the microscope. Paul's dilemma might sound like a no-brainer, but for the obsessed, it's no easy choice. And there's a great twist at the end where Paul deals with all the negative forces in his life in his own, twisted way.

So the question is, how big a fan are you? 

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