The Phantom Movie

Chances are good you've never heard of it, but among certain circles, the small independent movie Fanboys has been a recurring subject now for years. All this despite the fact it was only actually released very late last year; it had a long, rough road getting made. But back to that in a moment.

Fanboys is a "road trip" movie set in 1998, featuring a group of major Star Wars fans. One of them is dying of cancer, and does not expect to live to see next year's release of the first new Star Wars film in 15 years, The Phantom Menace. So the group resolves to break into Skywalker Ranch to view the rough cut of the movie.

The bulk of filming on this movie began in 2006. And although the people making it were, it seems, barely more organized than "hey gang, let's make a movie!", they managed to attract some people you'll actually recognize to their film. Among the cast is Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars herself), Jay Baruchel (star of Undeclared, and one of the secondary characters in Tropic Thunder), and Seth Rogen (just before his string of film successes made him an unlikely force in Hollywood). And then there's a string of cameos they lined up. They're best not spoiled, but suffice it to say they're entertaining.

The aseembled first cut drew enough interest that the team was able to get money for re-shoots to make the finished product look more professional. But it also brought studio interference. The distributors that picked them up wanted changes the creators disagreed with, including the removal of the "downbeat cancer sub-plot" (and thus excising the entire motivation for the caper). Ultimately, another director was brought in to direct the new material. After some bomb test screenings, the original team was brought back and given a few short days to restore the work as they'd intended.

And then the movie was still not ultimately released in any significant way. After a crazy-short run in a tiny number of cities, the film simply dropped on DVD this year, on the 10th anniversary of the release of The Phantom Menace.

So was this movie worth all the struggle? Sort of. It's not phenomenal, but it is very entertaining. At the very least, if you're a Star Wars fan, there's plenty to be entertained by. I'd guess the "unwashed masses" would be mostly stumped. The tale of friendship and mortality is there to in theory be an emotional anchor that anyone could relate to, but it ultimately doesn't play nearly as well as the standard "road trip movie humor" and pop-culture references (mostly about, you guessed it, the Star Wars trilogy).

Mostly, it's just refreshing to see a movie like this about "geeks" that isn't about "Hollywood Geeks" -- that is, mass-market movie makers' apparent idea of what a geek is like. There's an extreme cartoonishness to the social awkwardness of a typical movie geek, that I always find far from reality, if not even a little offensive in some films. We're never meant to laugh with the Hollywood Geek, we're meant to laugh at him. Not so in this movie. These are likeable and believable people, with traits and behavior recognizable and relatable. There are a few over the top moments here and there (mostly surrounding one character in particular), but you can excuse them as attempts to tap into the American Pie genre. Mostly, the actors are doing an amazing amount with what is occasionally an amateur script.

Fanboys is ultimately a quick and fun little movie. I rate it a B. Which is a damn sight better than that Star Wars movie these characters are trying so hard to see.