Fanboys

Fanboys is awesome if you're into Star Wars, or anything geeky for that matter. It is about the devotion to a culture that is not accepted by modern society, and the unique friendships that can come through such a devotion. The plot of the movie is that in '99, Chris Marquette is a hard core Star Wars geek who is dying of cancer, so his friends decide to go to Skywalker Ranch and steal a print of Episode 1 before it's released a.k.a. Marquette bites it. The dynamics between the friends are really legit, and the fact that their quest is all about a gift to the dying friend is quite touching. The comedy's awesome, with a whole range of Star Wars in-jokes, from the random sound FX to the appearance of familiar faces to the geek universe.

My huge problem with the film is it's first act. The producers (wizards of taste Bob and Harvey Weinstein) obviously had a huge problem with the films marginalized marketability and hacked it from the inside out. Granted, they have re-inserted the controversial cancer subplot, thanks to a vigorous online campaign of people who, mostly, had not even seen the film, but appreciated its central conceit (myself included). However, the introductory sequences of the film reek of a genial, boring teen movie, and avoid references to Star Wars so advertantly that the stormtrooper outfits and wookie noises become elephants in the room, so to speak. It is hard to believe that the film began like this before the Weinsteins got their hands on it, especially considering the spot-on referential tone of the rest of the movie. Once the characters are on the road, and the cameos and high-concept gags start rolling in, the film really picks up and becomes something special, the best love letter to fandom and geek culture since Free Enterprise (a particular favorite of yours truly). You just have to get past the economically-minded plodding of those who, undoubtedly, completely don't get the subject matter, and the good bits truly do prove waiting for. And Kristen Bell looks awesome in the Slave Leia outfit.