When I arrived at the theater to watch this movie, I looked around at the small crowd that had gathered that afternoon. It was no surprise that it was males, 28-38, and slightly nerdy. No one was dressed up like a Wookie and there weren't any light saber battles in the aisles, but it was clear that anyone in the theater could have done this before. This was a film that was made by Fan Boys about Fan Boys for Fan Boys.
The story is about a group of friends that love the holy trilogy and decide to drive across the country to sneak into Skywalker Ranch to watch Episode I before it was released. One of the characters is dying of cancer and his friends are driven to see the film before they loose their friend. This on paper seems like a heavy turn, and the film is only book ended by the weight of this. In the middle its purely goofy hijinks and nerd references to the trilogy. Today I was reading that the studio (Weinstein) was trying to get the cancer story taken out of the film and make it simply about drunk nerds trying to sneak a peak at the Phantom Menace. I am glad that this didn't happen because this story was handled fairly well and made me want to guys to succeed.
Overall Fan Boys was not horrible and nothing great. I walked out of the theater fairly satisfied. I appreciated the nerd wars that took place between Star Wars and Star Trek. The jokes were certainly inside, but for the audience that sat in the theater that afternoon, we got it and laughed. It had the classic 80's movie fiction of a beautiful nerd girl (played by Kristen Bell) falling for a fellow nerd and him not realizing it until the end. This is pure fiction, yet will surely drive the hope that is possessed by fan boys.
So, if you love Star Wars and are willing to have the trilogy references make up for average comedy and story telling, then spend your money and see Fan Boys. If not, don't waste your time. While I was slightly mocking these nerds in this post, I acknowledge that I occupied a seat in that theater and deserve to be labeled a fan boy.
1 comments:
You should do more film reviews!
Incidentally, I once had an idea for a movie where students 'kidnap' their terminally ill friend and take off cross country in a van they use to broadcast a pirate radio station. It was a feel good coming of age comedy but it never got past the planning stages.
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