Disappearing "Fanboys"?

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One of these months, Kyle Newman's Fanboys -- a tragic period comedy about a group of Star Wars fans who attempt to break into George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch so a sick friend can watch The Phantom Menace before he croaks -- will open in theatres, or at least on DVD. The MGM/Weinstein Co. team was going to have it out by 1.18, but that has apparently fallen by the wayside. An Exhibitor Relations list indicates that the Weinsteiners may have dumped the film altogether. Am I missing some piece of news?

You can just about smell the stench of over-acting from this Fanboys still alone...particularly the coarse emoting of Dan Fogler (middle)

Any film starring the animal Dan Fogler is a potential problem, and any film with this storyline that doesn't deal at least semi-honestly with the content of The Phantom Menace -- a shattering spiritual and emotional comedown for thousands of Star Wars geeks the world over when it opened eight and half years ago , despite the odd fact of it having made obscene earnings -- has to be reprehensible on some level. One of the last things a dying geek does is watch the screen debuts of Jake Lloyd and Jar-Jar Binks? That's sickening.

Rob Burnett's Free Enterprise excepted, geek culture movies always seem to run into problems. Whatever happened to Patrick Read Johnson's 5.27.77, another Star Wars fanboy flick film that has been in post-production for three or four years without a release?

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 3, 2008 at 7:33 AM

comment #1

DavidF says ...

" Whatever happened to Patrick Read Johnson's 5.27.77, another Star Wars fanboy flick film that has been in post-production for three or four years without a release?"

I was wondering the same thing as I watched the trailer for Fanboys which seems....well, it could go either way.

Both Fanboys and 5.25.77 seem to have the okay from Lucas but neither has even made it to straight-to-video so what is the deal?

Posted by DavidF at January 3, 2008 8:10 AM

comment #2

K. Bowen says ...

It's kind of a funny premise, you must admit. And whatever its sins, and there are many, the final light saber duel among Darth Maul, Kwai-Gon and Obi-Wan is maybe the exciting of the series.

Posted by K. Bowen at January 3, 2008 8:21 AM

comment #3

swordandpen says ...

It is odd to base a whole movie around seeing one of the worst movies made in recent times. Does the sick friend finally see the movie and then beg his friends to pull the plug on him when he realizes how lousy it is?

Posted by swordandpen at January 3, 2008 8:36 AM

comment #4

Balthazar says ...

There IS a great film or two be made about Star Wars' impact on our culture, whether its set in the 70s or present day.

But I guess that film hasn't been made yet.

We'll just have to settle for Reed Rothschild telling Dirk Diggler, "People tell me a look like Han Solo."

Posted by Balthazar at January 3, 2008 8:41 AM

comment #5

Dave says ...

There are cool and satisfying moments galore in the prequel trilogy. The Phantom Menace had the pod race and the three-way duel, both fantastic moments that elevated the rest of the dull mess into something watchable.

Unfortunately, all the good moments are spread out over *three* movies that are now painful to watch.

Liam Neeson did good work. Ewan MacGregor got better as the movies went along. Ian McDiarmid is a joy to watch in every scene of his. Natalie Portman and Hayden were failed by the abysmal scripts.

But the largest failing of the prequels is that they reflect a vision in love with itself. Unlike Jeff, I really admire George Lucas, and appreciate his talents. But like Jeff, I agree that he needed someone with a voice of sanity next to him to reign his AWFUL instincts, the ones that contrasted with his brilliant ones.

Amazing visions of worlds unseen? Thank you, George.

Ponderous, repetitive scene after scene of "we're flying. . . we're landing. . . we're unloading. . . we're loading. . . we're taking off. . . we're flying again"? Unforgivable. It's not a galactic adventure, it's like watching George Lucas's Super 8mm vacation movies.

The pacing in all of the movies, with the bare exception of the last one, is painful. The lines often fall flat when they should soar-- nothing feels *comfortable* like it should. All stilted and stuffy, like amateur Shakespeare. Only a handful of characters actually felt like human beings (again, Neeson and McDiarmid stand out).

It's a shame, because I love Star Wars. I love the environments, the atmosphere, the story. It's all so very cool and neat, and Jeff is probably too old to relate to the Walter Mitty aspects of it all-- growing up, it was *fun* to picture yourself as a Jedi, or as Han Solo. Pure escapism.

The prequels? They had moments of brilliance, moments that were worth enjoying, but so much of it. . . sigh.

Posted by Dave at January 3, 2008 8:43 AM

comment #6

UnChien says ...

I misread the opening paragraph, thought it was a documentary and actually got a little excited. Then, of course, I re-read the article...

Posted by UnChien at January 3, 2008 8:47 AM

comment #7

lesterg says ...

Considering that Kyle Newman's Revenge of the Nerds remake was so bad that the studio shut it down during principal photography, I'm expecting very little from Fanboys.

Posted by lesterg at January 3, 2008 8:58 AM

comment #8

AJW says ...

"and any film with this storyline that doesn't deal at least semi-honestly with the content of The Phantom Menace -- a shattering spiritual and emotional comedown for thousands of Star Wars geeks the world over when it opened eight and half years ago , despite the odd fact of it having made obscene earnings -- has to be reprehensible on some level."

The funniest part of the premise is the idea that the dying person is going to hate the movie. Or he dies, wish unfulfilled, and then his friends watch the movie and realize it was for the better.

Or do you already know the movie skirts the issue?

At least it has Kristen Bell.

Posted by AJW at January 3, 2008 9:11 AM

comment #9

p.Vice says ...

Even Harry Knowles has had nothing good to say about this movie. You know it's gotta be bad when that's the case.

Posted by p.Vice at January 3, 2008 10:07 AM

comment #10

Rothchild says ...

This was a very funny film that tested well. It even ends with a pretty genius joke about the quality of TPM. But Weinstein, being a man suddenly insecure and unable to deal with living in a world where he's no longer infallible, decided to have Scott Mosier come in and do a bunch of a reshoots, trying to make the film even funnier. It's like the guy that comes in and adds ADR farts into a scene for no reason. I don't know if they movie got better or worse, but there's something really wrong with a company that can't even bother to open a film that has Seth Rogen playing five parts, From Dusk Till Dawn style.

All they have to do is one of those trailers aimed at people with bad memories, like the one for 27 Dresses. "Starring Knocked Up's Katherine Heigel." "No shit? That's where I know her from! That movie I saw six weeks ago." Only in this case it's "Knocked Up's Seth Rogen, Knocked Up's Jay Baruchel, and Jungle 2 Jungle's Sam Huntington." Boom. You have the Apatow fans and the Pasquin fans in lockdown mode for opening day.

Posted by Rothchild at January 3, 2008 10:22 AM

comment #11

ZacharyTF says ...

I hope it makes it to the big screen. What other movie would I be able to see Kristen Bell in the Princess Leia slave bikini outfit? :)

Even if it does go directly to DVD, I'll still rent it anyways. I hope the kid sees the movie and croaks immediately after the end credits while giving the movie a thumbs down.

Posted by ZacharyTF at January 3, 2008 10:47 AM

comment #12

christian says ...

Does the movie actually kill him?

Posted by christian at January 3, 2008 11:23 AM

comment #13

Monument says ...

What does it mean when a Tony award winning actor consistently appears in such unabashedly shitty movies?

Posted by Monument at January 3, 2008 11:30 AM

comment #14

Jeff says ...

" It's like the guy that comes in and adds ADR farts into a scene for no reason."

Haha, just watched the "TV Set" last night and the same thing happened to David Duchovney's pilot. "Hey! There was no fart there."

Posted by Jeff at January 3, 2008 11:39 AM

comment #15

jeffmcm says ...

These both sound like awful movies. And people think Zodiac is the height of masturbatory obsession, but at least it's about something beyond constantly self-referencing one's childhood.

Posted by jeffmcm at January 3, 2008 11:54 AM

comment #16

malibugigolo says ...

this movie sounds gross.

Posted by malibugigolo at January 3, 2008 12:04 PM

comment #17

corey3rd says ...

This film is only going to be good if in the third act the dying screams "They'll see you in hell first, Lucas!" and he beats George to death with the print. Maybe next year we'll have a film about a bunch of 13 year olds sneaking into Showgirls.

only one reason to be in Balls of Fury - to learn from James Hong: The Master.

Posted by corey3rd at January 3, 2008 12:06 PM

comment #18

Movie fan09 says ...

Natalie Portman and Hayden were failed by the abysmal scripts.

not really.
he made these movies based on the adventure serials which EVERYONE came off as wooden with some exceptions..namely the talented actors.

anakin was a fantastic character.
and anyone who ever was you know, talented could have pulled that part off. truthfully.. the character reminds me of my dad and bits of myself..so maybe that's why it seems easy to me.

the problem is, if your lead is dead, so is everyone else.
sam jackson and the others made it their own because they were Buddha like characters of good or evil.
so playing that is painfully easy.

just bad casting what it came down to.

Posted by Movie fan09 at January 3, 2008 12:07 PM

comment #19

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

Screen debut of Jake Lloyd?

Not even close.

Jake Lloyd's screen debut was Nick Cassavetes' UNHOOK THE STARS, in which he was actually quite good. He was even entertaining as Ahnuld's son in JINGLE ALL THE WAY.

Once you've seen him in those, it's clear Lucas simply didn't direct him at all. The kid had a lot of potential.

Posted by Luke Y. Thompson at January 3, 2008 1:14 PM

comment #20

Arran says ...

I'm pretty sure Scott Mosier did some EDITING work on this to try and salvage it...reshoots would seem odd for him to do given that he's not a director.

Terrible sign either way.

Posted by Arran at January 3, 2008 1:15 PM

comment #21

Rothchild says ...

Scott Mosier did reshoots. What does it seeming odd have to do with anything?

Posted by Rothchild at January 3, 2008 1:22 PM

comment #22

Arran says ...

You have a point there.

He mentioned on a Smodcast that he had done editing work on it. He didn't say anything about doing reshoots himself, but that doesn't mean he didn't do them of course.

I am curious as to what your source on him doing reshoots is, though.

Posted by Arran at January 3, 2008 1:28 PM

comment #23

Dravot says ...

I saw 5-25-77 at the Star Wars Celebration convention last summer.

It's pretty terrible, unfortunately. There was a good story in there, but it's buried under a predictable, shopworn coming-of-age structure, including a poorly-conceived romance.

Posted by Dravot at January 3, 2008 2:11 PM

comment #24