Rapid Review: Fanboys (2009)

“Greatest deed Luke Skywalker ever did was take down the Death Star, right? As far as I’m concerned, that’s what everybody needs. You need that one bad-ass thing that lets you live on forever, you know.”
– Hutch

SYNOPSIS: Star Wars fanatics take a cross-country trip to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch so their dying friend can see a screening of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) before its release. – via IMDB

So on a movie watching day recently, a good friend of mine brought Fanboys with when she heard I had never seen it. Especially knowing how much I love Star Wars. Let me tell you, I had an absolute blast with this. I don’t care what the scores online say, this was hilarious and silly and entertaining and endearing… I had so much fun! The references sprinkled throughout this is absolutely fantastic, and the Star Wars vs Star Trek war that went down in this, again, exaggerated but a lot of fun. I liked this because it is not something I took seriously, which I think would be a surefire way to kill this, and I think you have to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy this one as much as the creators were hoping. It is cheesy, it is silly, it is what it is and it embraces that wholeheartedly, which works, in my opinion, so even with all the flaws, one can have fun with it, and I sure as hell did. I thought that it was great to see Chris Marquette in something again (although I am late to the party with this – I used to watch so much Joan of Arcadia growing up), and Sam Huntington was entertaining, too. Jay Baruchel has such a nasally annoying voice, but it suited his character down to a tee here. Dan Fogler was probably my favourite of the lot, even though he was super nasty at the best of times. I also liked the cameos we had of both Star Wars and Star Trek actors in this, it just made it so much more awesome. The whole journey to steal The Phantom Menace for a dying friend was great, I just feel so sorry for the guy knowing that was the only movie of the prequels he got to watch – what a disappointment This movie definitely won’t be for everyone, there is no doubt in my mind of that, but I had fun, and it was great to watch this with my friend, who loves this, and Star Wars, it just elevated the whole thing in my mind.