‘Fanboys’ Theater Update And A New Review

Before I get in to my review, I am very happy to let you guys know that Fanboys will be opening a little wider next weekend. This comes directly from the Fanboys Myspace page.

FANBOYS expands into TEN more US cities on February 20th
1. Boston
2. Washington DC
3. Detroit
4. Atlanta
5. Denver
6. New Haven
7. Orlando
8. Phoenix
9. Columbus, OH
10. Raleigh , NC

Still not playing at a theater near you. Then according to the latest blog on the Fanboys myspace page, do something about it by sending an email to  fanboys@weinsteinco.com demanding that Fanboys be played in your city. If you want some convincing on why you should do this, read on for my review…

Two days ago I finally got a chance to catch Fanboys in my select city. The theater was pretty empty, but it was a Thursday afternoon so that’s probably not an indication of how the film is doing. As of Wednesday, its take in was about $210,000 nationwide. I’m not exactly sure how good that is for 44 screens but hopefully they will open it wider because it deserves to be seen. The film has been on my most anticipated list of 2009 ever since I had to take it off my most anticipated of 2008. While waiting for it to start, I wondered why? I would not consider myself a big Star Wars fan and while I do like the main cast, none of them are really big enough draws that would make me see a film just for them. There was just something attracting me to this film and I knew I had to see it. The recent trailer that pointed out the celebrity cameos just added to the anticipation.

After finally seeing the film, I am confused. Why the hell did it take so long to release this movie? It is good. Really good. I knew this was considered the ultimate love letter to Star Wars so I was worried that there would be a ton of jokes and references that went over my head. I had a feeling that’s what those in charge of the release also feared. I will admit there were quite a few that flew by me, but I still laughed at most simply because of the delivery of the lines. If they replaced half the Star Wars jokes with sex jokes, I have no doubt that the Weinstein’s would have marketed this as the next Superbad and this would have come out last year. The problem is that they didn’t need to do this in order to market the film to a wider audience. While there are a ton of Star Wars, and even some Star Trek references, I am proof that one only needs a basic level of Star Wars trivia to really enjoy this movie. While thinking about this, I was reminded of a test screening that I hosted for my own film. For those of you who don’t know, Stuck Like Chuck is a dialogue heavy film and the two characters stuck in the classroom throw around quite a few film references. At the screening, I asked if people got all the film references or what they thought of them and I got a response that definitely applies to Fanboys as well. One girl said that she did not need to get the reference to understand the joke or meaning behind it. She said that the reference could have been to something made up but would have had the same importance just because of how the actors said the line and reacted to it. I believe this to be true in both my film and Fanboys. That’s why I am going to stake the claim that if Fanboys was not about Star Wars but instead about fans of some made up film, I would have enjoyed it just the same. With that being said, fans of Star Wars will probably enjoy this film a little more because of the vast amounts of trivia strewn throughout but I bet many of those people would also enjoy the bootleg made up version as well.

Now that I spent a very large part of this review speaking about the trivial aspect that this film is full of Star Wars trivia and why it doesn’t matter, I’d like to move on to the movie itself. At its core this film is a really well done buddy road movie. It has some clichà ©s, such as the gang getting into a fight, ending up in a bar they don’t belong in and running in to a ton of celebrity cameos throughout the film but each of these clichà ©s are handled in a fun and unique manner. Some of them actually lead to important story developments. Another thing this film does differently is that it also has some dramatic parts that actually succeed in being sincere. The film also moves at a quick pace. I was actually surprised that the full 90 minutes passed so quickly and I was a little upset that there were no videos during or after the credits. I wanted to see more and I hope that the film gets a decent DVD/Blu-Ray release because I’m sure there is a ton of great additional footage out there.

The film features some really interesting and relatable characters. Dan Fogler’s character is 100% my friend Kenny. For readers of this site, yes the Kenny who told Bruce Campbell that he is afraid of apples. I would say that I am probably most like Windows, played by Jay Baruchel who needs some leading role love from Judd Apatow sometime soon. The rest of the cast is great, as are the celebrity cameos. The cameo by Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes was short but sweet, much like what Mewes was doing in the bathroom of the film. (I’m not saying what, go see the movie to find out) What may be one of the best things about this film is that Seth Rogen plays multiple roles and he does not play Seth Rogen in any of them. Many people, myself included, have started to grow weary of his laid back non-acting but his presence in this movie restored my faith in him.

To sum up everything I just said in 1 line†¦ This movie is for Star Wars fans and non-fans alike who want to see a funny and sincere buddy road comedy done right.

Please go out and see this film if you can. If for no other reason, go see it to fall in love with Kristen Bell. I know I did.

Jerry Cavallaro – www.AreYouStuckLikeChuck.com