Let me start with the positive aspects of this movie, and I promise it won't take long. Robert de Niro is brilliant, although he basically regurgitates his role in Cape Fear. Still, he is so effective as a psychotic weirdo, its always powerful to watch.
De Niro's Gil Renard is the only character who is defined in more than two dimensions. he starts out as an average American guy. He is a divorced Dad and a knife salesman who can't cut it in the 90s. Renard is a guy used to quality and perfection. He is unable to deal with the trend in modern society to discard the old to adopt the new. As such, he is believable, and even pitiable. But beyond this slim moment of reality, the entire plot of the movie is totally and absolutely unbelievable. Each situation that evolves on the screen is less credible that the one that preceded it.
Renard's favorite pastime is watching baseball, and he's a die hard fan of Bobbie Rayburn, played by Wesley Snipes. Snipes is acceptable as the baseball star, but he really has nothing to work with. he has one of those roles that Hollywood used to reserve for women - he just has to stand around and either look physically appealing or victimized. How hard is that?
Since Renard can't find perfection in any other area of his life, he looks to Rayburn to provide that perfection on the baseball field. When Rayburn hits a slump as well, trouble starts.
Probably somewhere deep in the past history of this piece of cinematic trash, there was once a scary short story. However, it is totally lost in The Fan. By the time the footage got to the editor, I think everyone must have realized that this movie was unlikely to attract an audience, so why bother to build a quality product? I spotted so many editing errors, I gave up counting. At no point does the movie have continuity. All the shots are ponderous and laboured, desperately trying to be a cinematic masterpiece.
By far the most infuriating aspect of the movie, however, is the music. This was the most offensive aspect of an offensive movie. Like de Niro's character, the music grew from mildly annoying in the beginning to totally gross by the end. For example, Wesley Snipes rival for the spotlight was his team mate, Juan Primo. Every time Primo is on screen, the auditorium fills with Latino music. Okay, we understand he's not from the United States, lets leave it and move on.
In a similar vein, when de Niro was choosing clothes from Snipes's closet, the music whispered "Let me violate you". And with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, the music grinding away during both murder scenes uses a popular four letter word that suggests killing and sexual intercourse are one and the same. These scenes might be taken from a training manual for rapists.
In conclusion, The Fan is another one of those forgettable movies that washes through you like bad chili. De Niro is worth a look, but probably only for those people who can blot out the abomination on the screen and imagine this flick had Alfred Hitchcock been alive to direct it.