Fanboys

Dir: Kyle Newman

2009

**

Fanboys is a film I really wanted to like. It has plenty of aspects I do like but overall it’s a complete mess and misses all of the targets it sets out to achieve. I’m a Star Wars fan – much like 98% of the planet’s population – but I suppose I couldn’t consider myself a fanboy as such. I’ve got the autographs and had my photo taken with many of the original Star Wars cast but I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head what planet Han Solo comes from. I did however get all of the references and nerd jokes and I would argue that the film wouldn’t go over the heads of the mainstream or of casual viewers. The idea is better than the finished product, which is frustrating because with a few tweaks here and there it could have been brilliant. I think the first real problem is that none of the main characters seem like fanboys. The Big Bang Theory had been running for almost two years when Fanboys eventually came out and I dare say I showed it up for everything it got wrong. Neither Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler or Jay Baruchel were convincing as a nerd. Simply liking Star Wars, working in a comic book store, wearing a Rush t-shirt and needing glasses does not automatically make one a nerd or Fanboy. The use of stereotype is a bit tired and is nothing clever or original. The road trip element of the film is cliché-ridden with a mild nerd twist. The casual drug taking, accidental homosexual encounter and the ‘oh, you’re a prostitute – I thought you actually liked me’ scenarios are all lame, boring and at this point should only be attempted if an extra element is added, making it 100% original/different/new. Kristen Bell playing female nerd (ie. everything the Fanboys want in a girl) but not being recognised as a potential girlfriend is also tiresome. The premise of the story is based on the films most clumsy element however. The four friends have supposedly lost touch over the years with best friends Eric and Linus falling out. The two friends are said to have fallen out because for years the pair spoke of going to George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch and breaking in to watch the unreleased episode 1 – Eric decided to ‘give up on the dream’ to work for his father, thus the pair haven’t spoken for two years. The thing is, this idea that is supposedly something the group have spoken about for years, ‘since they were young’ in fact, doesn’t make any sense because the Star Wars film in question didn’t exist when they were young, nor was it really ever on the cards until four years before Fanboys is set. Even then, there would have been no film to break in and watch until maybe a year before. Eric – who has just been given his father’s company – only decides to go with his old friends because Linus is dying of cancer. This never seems like its real and I kept expecting the others to admit it was a ruse to get him to come but this wasn’t the case. In fact the shoddy cancer story – which I find the big problem with the film – was the reason the film took two years to be released and was the subject of much concern. Harvey Weinstein ordered re-shoots after seeing the first cut, deciding that the cancer story just didn’t work. He asked for more raunchy, vulgar humor to be added instead and it was argued that the group could have just got drunk and broke into Skywalker Ranch on a whim. Because all the actors had other work commitments, the re-shoot was delayed by some time and director Kyle Newman was unavailable. The re-shoots were done by Steven Brill who agreed that the original didn’t work. He was pretty rude to would-be fans and soon enough a huge on-line campaign was started, asking for the original cut to be released instead of the new version. It remains the most underwhelming campaign of all time. I agree it didn’t need raunchy or vulgar additions (a few laughs wouldn’t have gone a miss) but the cancer story, in the end, is so badly handled that it should have been left out. In fact all of the back stories and moral dilemmas should have been removed as they were cliché and rubbish. Why can’t fanboys just do fanboy things, because isn’t that what makes them fanboys in the first place? The characters were desperate for some development and none of them were well performed or likable. I don’t think there really is much rivalry between Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans, isn’t that just a stupid idea cooked up by the media, I’m pretty sure you can be both, and many people are. Such a shame really as the references were good and the cameos were amazing (William Shatner, Carre Fisher, Billy Dee Williams and Ray Park being the best). I loved the poster too (referencing The 40 Year Old Virgin) and they did well to get Lucas to agree to use the official Star Wars sound effects. My favorite reference in the film was how the security guards at Skywalker Ranch all dressed like the police in THX 1138, something that might have gone over people’s heads but a true treat for the fans. It could have been one of two things – an oddball comedy about four nerds who do something funny and ridiculous (staring four capable and funny actors) or a tender last wish drama. It tried to do both and failed.