Fanboys ««½
PG-13, 90m. 2008
Cast & Credits: Sam Huntington (Eric), Chris Marquette (Linus), Dan Fogler (Hutch), Jay Baruchel (Windows), Kristen Bell (Zoe), David Denman (Chaz), Christopher McDonald (Big Chuck), Seth Rogen (Admiral Seasholtz/Alien/Roach), Danny Trejo (The Chief), Ethan Suplee (Harry Knowles), Billy Dee Williams (Judge Reinhold), William Shatner (Himself), Carrie Fisher (Doctor), Kevin Smith (Himself), Jason Mewes (Himself), Ray Park (THX Security Guard #2). Screenplay by Ernest Cline and Adam F. Goldberg based on a story by Ernest Cline and Dan Pulick. Directed by Kyle Newman.
Fanboys is a humorous but often times, unnecessarily raunchy look at how die-hard fans of the now classic Star Wars trilogy (Star Wars-1977, The Empire Strikes Back -1980, Return of the Jedi-1983) excitedly prepared themselves for the new prequel, Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the year before its premiere May 19, 1999.
To be more precise, the story focuses on a group of childhood buddies, Eric (Sam Huntington), Hutch (Dan Fogler), Windows (Jay Baruchel), and Zoe (Kristen Bell) who take their dying friend, Linus (Chris Marquette) on a cross country trip to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch near Nicasio, California with plans to break in and steal a copy of Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
I have to admit given the amount of hype created when Lucas announced plans to return to Star Wars territory in the mid-1990s, I would not be surprised if, and I am not going to hesitate in saying this, some deranged fans did perhaps dream of breaking into Skywalker Ranch to get their hands on a bootleg copy of Episode I.
Such a story would have probably made headlines in the entertainment industry if it turned out some devoted fans accomplished such a feat. The only reason as to why they did it was to fulfill a dying friend and fan’s wish to see a long awaited film that he knows he would not be around to see with everyone else a year later. On that aspect, George Lucas could be like The Wizard of Oz, granting that dying fan’s final wish. I don’t think he would have said no much less prosecute the group for trespassing once he had heard the reason. The drive-by media probably would not have been too kind.
Fanboys is at its best when it parodies the gangs' dedication to Star Wars acting out Jedi-mind tricks and arguing about the characters from the original trilogy. When Linus (Marquette) argues with Eric (Huntington) how gross it was for Leia to passionately kiss Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, the other retorts back that Luke didn’t know Leia was his sister until Return of the Jedi. The most memorable argument is a discussion on how Harrison Ford has never made a bad movie in his career as they pass by a billboard sign advertising his film, Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), on their way to California.
The most clever moments are not so much the cameos from former Star Wars vets Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, and Ray Park but how the characters utter dialogue from the original trilogy that fits in with their current situation. When Eric unexpectedly shows up at a Halloween party in an early scene, Hutch jokingly utters the line Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian said to Ford's Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.
“You’ve got a lot of guts coming here, after what you pulled,” Hutch says.
What I wouldn't give to get the opportunity to use this line on an ex-friend of mine who moved out of state last year and didn't bother to leave me a forwarding address should he decide, for no reason, to pop back into my life. Moreover, I'm not so sure I'd be too friendly about it either.
At least that’s the message I got from watching Fanboys. I have to say from 1996 to May 1999, collecting Star Wars merchandise was like a return back to yesteryear. Those years were, to quote a familiar line from the original trilogy, “Before the Dark Times” before learning that the prequels were not as good as the original trilogy.
Up until May 19, 1999, this was a happier time when not a single fan dared ask their friends the dreaded question about Episode I, “What if the movie sucks?”
©4/25/09
PG-13, 90m. 2008
Cast & Credits: Sam Huntington (Eric), Chris Marquette (Linus), Dan Fogler (Hutch), Jay Baruchel (Windows), Kristen Bell (Zoe), David Denman (Chaz), Christopher McDonald (Big Chuck), Seth Rogen (Admiral Seasholtz/Alien/Roach), Danny Trejo (The Chief), Ethan Suplee (Harry Knowles), Billy Dee Williams (Judge Reinhold), William Shatner (Himself), Carrie Fisher (Doctor), Kevin Smith (Himself), Jason Mewes (Himself), Ray Park (THX Security Guard #2). Screenplay by Ernest Cline and Adam F. Goldberg based on a story by Ernest Cline and Dan Pulick. Directed by Kyle Newman.
To be more precise, the story focuses on a group of childhood buddies, Eric (Sam Huntington), Hutch (Dan Fogler), Windows (Jay Baruchel), and Zoe (Kristen Bell) who take their dying friend, Linus (Chris Marquette) on a cross country trip to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch near Nicasio, California with plans to break in and steal a copy of Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
I have to admit given the amount of hype created when Lucas announced plans to return to Star Wars territory in the mid-1990s, I would not be surprised if, and I am not going to hesitate in saying this, some deranged fans did perhaps dream of breaking into Skywalker Ranch to get their hands on a bootleg copy of Episode I.
Such a story would have probably made headlines in the entertainment industry if it turned out some devoted fans accomplished such a feat. The only reason as to why they did it was to fulfill a dying friend and fan’s wish to see a long awaited film that he knows he would not be around to see with everyone else a year later. On that aspect, George Lucas could be like The Wizard of Oz, granting that dying fan’s final wish. I don’t think he would have said no much less prosecute the group for trespassing once he had heard the reason. The drive-by media probably would not have been too kind.
I can understand the fan’s excitement back then given that how much of a fan I was of the original trilogy when I was in grade school. When Kenner, now known as Hasbro, announced in 1996 that they were returning to producing Star Wars figures and toys, I saw it as a chance to relive my youth again, given that I no longer owned any of the original figures and toys. I was not so much excited that Lucas would finally get to telling the background story of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader as I was being given the opportunity to get my hands on all those original trilogy toys I missed since Kenner stopped making them in the mid-1980s.Even I couldn’t keep myself from escaping the hype in May 1999. It was like embracing “the Dark Side” of mass marketing. The week before Phantom Menace’s premiere, I stood in line for four hours at the Galaxy 9 theater in Garland, Texas along with everyone else waiting to buy advance tickets for myself and several co-workers for an early screening on May 19. I can’t recall if anyone was dressed up as any Star Wars characters but I can say that to my disappointment, I saw no women wearing Princess Leia’s slavegirl outfit from Return of the Jedi people can now buy for less than $100 to wear on Halloween, or to fulfill some male or female’s erotic private bedroom fantasies.
Fanboys is at its best when it parodies the gangs' dedication to Star Wars acting out Jedi-mind tricks and arguing about the characters from the original trilogy. When Linus (Marquette) argues with Eric (Huntington) how gross it was for Leia to passionately kiss Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, the other retorts back that Luke didn’t know Leia was his sister until Return of the Jedi. The most memorable argument is a discussion on how Harrison Ford has never made a bad movie in his career as they pass by a billboard sign advertising his film, Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), on their way to California.
The most clever moments are not so much the cameos from former Star Wars vets Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, and Ray Park but how the characters utter dialogue from the original trilogy that fits in with their current situation. When Eric unexpectedly shows up at a Halloween party in an early scene, Hutch jokingly utters the line Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian said to Ford's Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.
“You’ve got a lot of guts coming here, after what you pulled,” Hutch says.
What I wouldn't give to get the opportunity to use this line on an ex-friend of mine who moved out of state last year and didn't bother to leave me a forwarding address should he decide, for no reason, to pop back into my life. Moreover, I'm not so sure I'd be too friendly about it either.
The downside of Fanboys is it doesn’t quite achieve the emotional core I was looking for given that much of the story has to do with the dying friend's quest to see Episode I with all his friends before the public does.Such a notion may just be what Fanboys is all about as echoed by Linus near the end to Eric who he hadn’t kept in touch with for three years. Maybe it wasn’t about the chance to see Episode I before everyone else does, Linus says. The cross country trip was more about getting back together again as a group of buddies all of whom shared a common interest. Perhaps that was the point of waiting in line with so many others that day to get tickets for Episode I.
I wonder if people who remember standing in line the summers of 77’, 80’ and 83’to see the original trilogy when the films were showing on less than 1,000 screens nationwide and waited in line to buy tickets to see Phantom Menace was like a nostalgic return back to yesteryear?
At least that’s the message I got from watching Fanboys. I have to say from 1996 to May 1999, collecting Star Wars merchandise was like a return back to yesteryear. Those years were, to quote a familiar line from the original trilogy, “Before the Dark Times” before learning that the prequels were not as good as the original trilogy.
Up until May 19, 1999, this was a happier time when not a single fan dared ask their friends the dreaded question about Episode I, “What if the movie sucks?”
©4/25/09
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