Fanboys Review
By Joe Lozito
The Fans Hit the Sith
What film geek hasn't thought about it? "What if I don't live long enough to see
insert long-awaited movie here?!" And then, when you're seated in the theater on opening day, before the opening credits even roll, you see a preview for the next big movie (wait, they're making "Watchmen"?!), and the cycle repeats. Such is the problem for Linus, one of the four man-boys who fit the titular description in "Fanboys", a low-brow celebration of all things geek-tastically "Star Wars". But Linus has it really bad. Not only does he have cancer, but it's 1998 and Linus may not make it until opening day of "
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace". Has there ever been a film more long-awaited than that one?
As the film opens, Linus and his friends are happily slacking in pre-recession arrested development. Hutch (Dan Fogler), the Jack Black clone from "Balls of Fury", works at a comic book store and repeatedly attempts to use the Jedi Mind Trick to get women to take off their tops. Windows (Jay Baruchel) spends his time in chat rooms conversing with a girl who's "a cross between Sarah Michelle Gellar and Janeane Garafolo". Only Eric (Sam Huntington, Jimmy Olsen from "
Superman Returns") has attempted to "grow up", taking a job at a used car lot owned by his father (a grotesquely fake-tanned Christopher McDonald). When Eric gets wind of Linus' illness (they used to be BFFs until Eric got all "corporate"), the boys set out on a mission to steal a copy of "Episode I" six months before it opens. And where else would one find such a rarified item but at the mythical George Lucas compound, Skywalker Ranch, outside of San Francisco. Since the boys are located in Ohio, this movie has "road trip" written all over it.
And so they pile into Hutch's van - decked out to perfection like the Millennium Falcon, complete with Christmas lights, a would-be hyperdrive and an R2-D2 head sticking out the top (though that belongs on an X-wing...sorry). Along the way, they run afoul of "Star Trek" fans (in Captain Kirk's "future birthplace" in Iowa), a particularly violent version of Harry Knowles (Ethan Suplee) and, of course, the cops.
The script - nursed for ten years (y'know, back when it was still relevant) by Ernest Cline and given polish by Adam F. Goldberg - is an endless stream of sci-fi inside jokes, references and parodies. So yes, true to its title, there's a lot here for any Fanboy or Fangirl (admit it, you're out there) to love. Somehow during that time, the script must have gotten into the right hands because the film, directed by relative newcomer Kyle Newman, is almost nonstop cameos. Billy Dee Williams, Danny Trejo, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (who did their own riff on the franchise in "
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back") all appear. Seth Rogen overstays his welcome in multiple roles. And even James T. Kirk himself, William Shatner, shows up. But Carrie Fisher is given the sweetest moment as the boys' "only hope". All that and Veronica Mars - er, I mean Kristen Bell - plays the tomboy/hottie/requisite Leia stand-in.
Will the boys get a copy of the film? Will Linus live long enough to see it? I can't spoil the fun. What I can say is, when the boys finally reach their Death Star, it's clear just how far up the food chain the film's access rights have gotten. It's nice to see that Mr. Lucas may have loosened up after all these years. Sad to say the same isn't true of the folks behind "Star Trek" (the boys' sworn enemy franchise). The trekkers (not trekkies!) in the film are shoddy knock-offs. Likewise, it's a shame they couldn't get rights to John Williams' inimitable score, but they do have a lot of fun with sound effects.
Still, the film feels like a relic. 1998 may not have been a galaxy far away, but it sure seems like a long time ago. Of course, in a way, "Fanboys" couldn't have been made back then, at a time when the "Star Wars" franchise was bursting with potential. Since then, we've been thrice bitten by disappointing prequels, and let's not even mention the screeching debacle that was 2008's "
Star Wars: The Clone Wars". And since the film arrives ten years past its prime it ensures that only the truest of nerds will fully appreciate it. Not that there's anything wrong with that. For less ardent admirers, it's more like spending time with old friends. Old friends who quote "Star Wars" incessantly. And yes, I know, even that gets old eventually. But the final irony is, in terms of expectations, "Fanboys" achieves what it sets out to do. And in that way, it's a better movie than "Phantom Menace" ever was.
