By now the anticipation behind the Star Wars prequel series has long since passed, with a huge mixture of reactions from fans and non-fans alike. Love them or hate them, the original feeling before Episode 1 came out was that of eager, excited anticipation. The Star Wars fanboys were counting down the seconds, getting ready to camp out for the tickets, and it renewed tired arguments about Boba Fett and the Skywalkers.
The film Fanboys starts there, six months before the film is released and a group of high school buddies have been divided. Eric (Sam Huntington) let go his dreams of becoming a comic book artist and his former friends to 'mature' and become a car salesman. At a Halloween party he runs into them, and then finds out that former best friend Linus (Chris Marquette) is dying of cancer. He will be dead in four months, before the highly anticipated Star Wars prequel comes out.
Eric decides to go on a road trip with Linus, Hutch (Dan Fogler), Windows (Jay Baruchel) and eventually gal-pal Zoe (Kristen Bell) to try and get into George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. The purpose is to steal an early cut of the film so Linus can see it before he dies. This film is peppered with jokes referring to many branches of geekdom, including Trekkies, Star Wars, video games, and comic books. As in most road trip movies, their original plan includes many bumps on the road. This includes a war with a Trekkie (hilarious cameo by Seth Rogen), meeting film critic Harry Knowles, William Shatner, and perhaps even a connection with the creator of Star Wars himself, George Lucas.
It's a charming premise, but not necessarily one that fully works. The problem with Fanboys is that it's not exactly as clever or unique as it wants to be. The jokes are tired, especially to real fanboys who have moved on to bigger and better topics to obsess over, and it doesn't mock the characters enough for mainstream viewers.
Let's face it, most audiences outside of real fans want to go in to laugh at the weirdness of geeks, but it's a loving tribute to us instead. And while we want to love it right back, it's kind of … boring. Okay so they go fight with Trekkies and then there's jail and prostitutes and a fight with Lucas' head of security and zzzzz. There's a real emotional center at this movie, that of Linus' eventual death and the loss of high school friendships, but while they touch on it briefly … it's really secondary to the classic road trip themes and therefore ultimately ordinary. Sure it was great to see Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams in this, plus all the other great cameos, but it wasn't enough if the story simply didn't add up to greatness. However, there are those who think the inside jokes and cameos are enough to love this movie, and all power to them. Fanboys is a charmer even if it is a little disappointing, and it's somewhat nostalgic to remember a time when the prequels seemed the best thing ever.
Now here's why you should get the DVD: the extras are fantastic! The commentary track has the director, writers, and three of the stars (including my favorite Kristen Bell). It's a great way to learn about the background of the film and they point out some of the references you could've missed while watching, which was really fun. There are a few deleted scenes, a featurette with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews ("Truth about Fanboys"), and a focused feature about all the Star Wars references and parallels between the two movies ("Star Wars Parallel"). There are several other little snippets that are great to watch, and while it does have a lot of similar information, it's still really entertaining for fans of the movie. One extra I could've used was a discussion on the movie's troubled development and why it took so long to come out; we all want to know the details on that!
Overall, this is an average but cute movie that real fanboys could really enjoy watching on a chill afternoon. I don't know if I could call it a must-see, but there's no harm in giving it a try. The DVD extras are worth it if you're into the film. "Fanboys" is on DVD and Blu-ray now!
ComicsOnline gives Fanboys 3 out of 5 fanboy fantasies.
