First off readers (and I really don't know how many more of these I get) I apologize for the lapse in posts. I'm not sure what is going on lately, but I'm fairly certain it has to do with sunshine, going outside layer-less, and a renewed affinity for tennis doubles.
Second, what you may or may not know is that Millie and I are nerds. Perhaps some shake a stick, claiming we aren't really nerds, but I assure you, as a Stargate watching, Harry Potter reading, Battlestar Galactica enthusiast, I most certainly have a tried and true nerdy streak. However, the core of my nerdiness rests with a little trilogy you may have heard of called Star Wars (John Williams, you're on).
Still need some proof? Ok.
- In high school my AIM name was Obijen (my other AIM account was Trillianjj, do we have any Hitchhiker fans out there?).
- My friends took this one step further and renamed me Obijen Kenerdbi.
- One entire wall of my fluorescent yellow bedroom was covered entirely in Star Wars pictures and paraphernalia (helped in part, of course, by tearing off expired pages from my Star Wars day planner).
- I skipped school and waited 13 hours in line to get tickets for Episode One.
- Depending on the time of day you're reading this, there is a 33.3% chance I'm tucked comfortably under the old Star Wars blanket I sleep with every night.
These are just a few of the reasons why Kyle Newman's Fanboys merits a post.
The basics: It's 1998, six months before Episode One: The Phantom Menace is due to hit theatres. Four best friends from Ohio decide to drive across the country, break into Skywalker Ranch, steal a copy of the film, and see it before anyone else. Oh yea, and did I mention that one of them has terminal cancer? It's a road trip movie with a super-Warsy twist with a bit of dramah thrown in to push the plot along.
From the onset, I was intrigued. Not only because Fanboys opens with classic Star Warsian title scrolling, but when the camera moves down to sweet little O-Hi-O it's to the unforgettable tune of Chumbawumba's "Tub Thumping." Oh 1998 . . . then we meet our nerds: Eric (Sam Huntington), Linus (Chris Marquette), Hutch (scene nabbing Dan Fogler), and Windows (Undeclared's true blue nerd Jay Baruchel), dressed as stormtroopers and declaring "Halloween just got awesome bitches."
Okay, so the tunes are timely and the costumes enticing, but between Jar Jar Binks, a gross lack of puppets and suped up trash cans, and a little scene sucker named Hayden Christensen, Star Wars fans have learned to be a skeptical bunch, so it wasn't until the following bit o' dialogue that Obijen was as wrapped up as that AT-AT Walker's legs during the schweet battle on Hoth:
Windows: "You guys have to stop perpetuating the myth that Boba Fett is awesome. He has a jet pack. Oooohhh. So did The Rocketeer. Real cool . . . all I'm saying is when it comes time for battle he's like Michael Bay - all style, no substance."
From that point on it's one righteous reference after another: Eric's older jerky brother calling the guys C3-Penis face and R2 dickhead, Windows exclaiming"what in Greedo's name?" when they come across a dive bar that Linus later calls "a wretched hive of scum and villainy", playing "Chewie" instead of shotgun, calling the masterbating Windows 'Admiral Jackbar', I mean the list goes on and on. Keep in mind too this is a movie made by geeks for geeks, so we're not only talking Star Wars references, but Terminator, Zelda, Stargate SG-1, Mario Kart, Jeri Ryan, Menudo, The Presidents of the United States of America, Top Gun, Big League Chew. Again, the list goes on and on.
Like any good comedy we have our bevy of cameos as well and Fanboys doesn't disappoint, like Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher to start! Then there's Seth Rogen (in two roles, one being some of the most inspired work I've seen since Undeclared), Danny McBride, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, William Shatner, Joe Lo Truglio, and even Ray Park (Darth Maul).
There is one scene where I literally bantha foddered in my pants. Incredibly, but predictably of course, our heroes have broken into Skywalker Ranch. Somehow they come upon the Archive Room. Reader: it's heaven, pure and simple. I think one character even says "this is where I want my ashes scattered." Literally, Wars fan heaven. We're talking original Vader, R2D2, C3PO, Han's costume with the blaster attached, a thermal detonator, even Indi's hat and Willow's book of spells. I have to admit, as silly as this may sound, a palpable hush came over me, and I thought "wow, even though this is fiction, I'm in awe."
Is this a great film? Of course not. There's a bit too much sentimentality at the end, it's obvious Kristen Bell is a truer blond than nerd, and upon watching it a second time I can positively state it doesn't have the perpetual rewatching capabilities of a Wet Hot American Summer. But it's certainly a funny flick, and if you're a Star Wars fan, well, it's probably the only film that encapsulates that precious time before Episode One dashed our hopes and dreams. Fanboys takes us on the geektastic journey we all dreamed of, giving us the schweest van imaginable (complete with a Chewie sounding horn, custom detail job, and light speed . . . ), and encourages the Rouge Leader within to cheer out loud, homemade saber in hand.
No matter the decade you were born, whether you saw the originals in theatres or on vhs (all three in a row my first time), there was an indescribable, unrivaled excitement. I mean, this was epic. The clone wars? Darth as Anakin? Yoda as a young(er) Jedi? All finally revealed! This frenzied energy was unlike anything I'd ever felt for a movie opening and it wasn't really until those lights went down and that music came up that I thought the last line of the movie: "what if it sucks?"
Shame on you George Lucas but bless you Fanboys for reminding us why could be so disappointed to begin with.
Millie's bees to knees meter (1 bee = blah, 10 bees = hoo-rah!): Millie: 6.75, Obijen: 9.5
Director: Kyle Newman
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, Kristen Bell
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Released: 2008



































