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| A boy in a Darth Wader mask makes up this simple yet amusing poster for Kyle Newman's Fanboys |
Four mega-nerds gather with one purpose, when one of them gets ill with cancer: Completing their childhood mission of storming the Skywalker Ranch in California to watch the rough cur of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
Fanboys is written by Ernest Cline (Ready Player One (2018)) and Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs (2013-19)), with Dan Pulich (Quantico (2016, TV-series)) contributing story elements, and directed by Kyle Newman (The Hollow (2004, TV movie)), whose feature debut it is.
On a surface level the film is decent enough; the plot moves forward; it is coherent and fairly competently made. The problem is that Fanboys doesn't amuse or entertain much, - in fact it bores in stretches, - and is forgotten almost before it is over. It is a deeply inconsequential semi Star Wars-homage; only semi because it is also acerbic about Episode I, which it seems to hate in a half-hidden way, (the filmmakers relished and sought out father of Star Wars and writer/director of Episode I George Lucas' approval of Fanboys and undeservedly got it. )
No one in the cast distinguish themselves in Fanboys, and then it naturally doesn't help matters that the film features unwelcome nudity and sexism, (the word 'fag' is used over and over again as an integrated part of the film's 'fun'.)
Related post:
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Cost: 3.9 mil. $
Box office: 961k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.24 times its cost)
[Fanboys premiered 6 February (USA) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, in and around February 2006. Lucas was shown an early cut of the film, which he gave his "stamp of approval". The release was delayed by 1½ year, as director Steven Brill was given money to film new scenes, changing the film's impetus from cancer to the characters just being drunk. Spurring controversy and anger, the scenes were eventually abandoned in preference for the original cut, which Newman was given just 36 hours to reassemble. The film opened #37 to a 171k $ first weekend in 44 theaters in North America, where it only diminished from there, grossing 688k $ (71.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 156k $ (16.2 %) and Iceland with 44k $ (4.6 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1½/4 star review, in line with this review. Newman returned with 5 TV and short credits before hitting big screens again, with Barely Lethal (2015). Fanboys is rotten at 31 % with a 4.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Fanboys?
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