Fanboys

By Clint Morris

The poster for ‘’Fanboys” includes the following tagline: In theaters, it will come … which is kind of ironic, considering the statement is barely true.

Disgracefully postponed and now, ceremoniously dumped by The Weinstein Company, Director Kyle Newman’s love-letter to ‘’Star Wars” (1977) fans may as well have been thrown into the Great Pit of Carkoon with Bobba Fett – at least that way, a few more people may have seen it (According to legend, Fett opened a restaurant inside the mouth of the beast, one that’s heavily populated each and every night by the other poor sods that have fallen into the Sarlac off barges).

In Australia, “Fanboys” will only be seen on one screen – but that’s one screen more than the film was originally planned to open on earlier this year (It was originally scheduled for a direct-to-DVD release in June), so thankyou Roadshow!

And those that do make the trip to Melbourne’s ACMI to check out the long-gestating comedy (one, mind you, that doesn’t include any FORCEd laughs) will be happier than a Ewok at an Empire bonfire. Like Swine Flu, hopefully the good word will spread from the ACMI screening, and the film will be treated to the kind of red-carpet treatment usually reserved for the Emperor and his Imperial guards.

A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away….

(Ok, the Galaxy was Earth… and it was 1998)

Writer Ernie Cline pens a story about a group of Star Wars-loving friends who head to San Francisco with a plan to storm George Lucas’s Skywalker ranch and thieve the first copy of “Star Wars Episode 1 : The Phantom Menace”.

It’s 1998. We’re six months away from the release of the first Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi. Knowing their ‘’Star Wars”-mad friend Linus (Christopher Marquette, ‘’Freddy Vs. Jason”), whose ill with Cancer, won’t live long enough to experience the film, Eric (Sam Huntington, ‘’Superman Returns”), Hutch (Dan Fogler, ‘’Balls of Fury”) and Windows (Jay Baruchel, ‘’Tropic Thunder”) decide the whole gang is going to drive to San Francisco and see the film now.  Our heroes take Hutch’s van and embark on a mission to drive across half the country – meeting a wonderful bunch of exciting and eccentric characters along the way.

Cline originally plans to shoot the film on a shoe-string budget, cast some unknown actors in the main roles, and project it through a wonky slide machine outside a cream coloured building for friends to watch.

That was until the web got a hold of the script.

Rapidly, everybody was talking about this terrific, in-jokey ode to Lucas, and how it deserved to be seen by more than 200 people (insert ironic comment here). Producers Kevin Spacey (Yes, same guy who put Gwyneth’s head in the box) and Dana Brunetti agreed and offered to co-pilot. And soon enough, Bob and Harvey Weinstein (why is it that I hear the Imperial March score whenever I told their names?) were onboard too – bringing the vessel into their shingle with their far-reaching tractor beam.

It was on. Filming had begun. The world anticipated the release of the film we’d been reading about – or just plain ol’ ‘reading’ – for all these years.  And talk about a cast – hottie-of-the-moment Kristen Bell (TVs “Veronica Mars”) agreed to don the ‘Slave Leia’ Costume for it (yes, you heard right!), Spacey’s “Superman Returns” co-star Sam Huntington agreed to lead the thing, rising comic superstars Seth Rogen, Dan Fogler and Danny McBride volunteered to pull a shift on it – and this before William Shatner, Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams offered to appear!.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

And then, around the time of the test screenings, the faint echo of one Admiral Ackbar alerting the troops was heard through the Newman/Cline headquarters in Los Angeles. “It’s a trap!” would replay in their heads for months, as The Weinstein Company would tinker, tear apart and terrorize the tyro filmmaker’s flick.

Seems Bob and Harvey weren’t exactly happy with the film.

They cut it, re-cut it, cut it again, and then, er, again. Eventually, they decided to plonk it on the shelf and release it… well, a few years after it was originally shot.

Cut the chatter, Red 2. Accelerate to attack speed!

Since the theme of the review seems to be irony, consider this – for a film that’s been pulled and tugged more times than Paul Reubens at a Porn Theater, ‘’Fanboys” plays nearly perfect. To look at it, you wouldn’t know it’d been edited a bunch of times, deemed unreleasable (at one stage) by the distributor, and widely-regarded to be a misfire – despite having not been seen by those doing the judging – because of its long, long, long delay.  It’s a head-scratcher why this thing isn’t the biggest release of the year – in short, it’s one of the most entertaining and rewarding films you’re likely to see this year! I kid you not… you’ll bust a gut, clap at the end, and dance out of that theatre like a 12-year-old who’s just seen ‘’Temple of Doom”!

Can you believe the Weinstein’s wanted to cut the ‘Cancer’ sub-plot out of the film (Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!). Yes, like Mola Ram!  Crazy huh!?  It’d be like having a ”Star Wars” movie where everyone’s a part of the Rebellion, and there is no Empire. Every movie, be it a comedy, kid’s movie, even a satire, needs a dark side – – because dark is real; life isn’t Enchiladas and Hookers, and in that case, the terminal disease that one of our lead characters has is that darkness. What the Cancer Subplot does is it gives the movie a certain sweetness you don’t usually find in films that are deemed of a similar ilk. The film might still play without it, but with it, we’ve got more than just ‘’American Pie” – we’ve got “Stand By Me with Lightsabers!”. And what works about the heavier part of the film is that it’s not melodramatic or overplayed, or even touched on too much – it’s just there. And the ending of the film wouldn’t work half as well as it does without it in it.

Movie-buffs – not just ‘’Star Wars” fanatics – will love the endless array of in-jokes and cameos the film serves up. Besides a wonderful gag concerning Harrison Ford’s post-Lucasfilm career, and an amusing jab at Jar Jar Binks, there’s quite a few ‘Special Guests’ that pop up throughout the film. Obviously fans of Lucas’s phenomenally-successful space saga will appreciate seeing Carrie Fisher play a Nurse, and Billy Dee Williams play a small-town Judge a lot more than the occasional filmgoer, but I believe outsiders will still get the jokes regardless. And everyone and anyone will appreciate the slightly self-depreciating Bill Shatner cameo – it’s wonderful.

But aside from Cline’s intelligent and tight script, and Newman’s imaginative direction, there’s a bunch of great lead performances that really give the film “punch”.  Bell is adorable and believable as the geeky Zoe, Marquette is credible and very likeable as the ailing Linus, Huntington is, as ever, solid as Eric, Baruchel is duly geeky – without playing it over-the-top – as Windows, and Fogler hogs the bulk of the good gags as the unrestrainable Hush-loving inciter Hutch. In fact, everyone involved in the film lets off an energy that hints they’re all really enjoying themselves on this production, and it really gives the film crackle.

In time, I believe Newman’s film will be seen by more and more people, and develop a cult following. It has to. While more successful films starring the likes of Matthew McConaughey and Miley Cyrus chalk up to be nothing than unmemorable background Ewoks (that’ll meet their fate tree-first), Fanboys is Chewbacca – funny, ferocious, fuzzy and in it for the long haul. And who doesn’t remember him at the end of the day, right?

In time, the Rebels behind the picture will win over the Empire that tried to keep them down.

You’d be crazier than a drunk Aqualish to miss what’s undoubtedly one of the funnest films of this – or any other – year!  Fanboys; the Force is Strong with This One!

You’re all clear, kid, now let’s blow this thing and go home!

FANBOYS playing 05/06/2009 to 21/06/2009 ACMI Melbourne