Fanboys Movie Review

Directed by Kyle Newman

Starring Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Dan Fogler, Danny Mcbride, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, and Seth Rogan

Available on dvd May 19, 2009

Sometimes timing plays a huge part in how good a movie is perceived. Unfortunately this movie is either about 5 years too late or needed to be released another 20 years from now. I know this movie was in limbo for years for legal or whatever reasons and now its finally going to be released straight to dvd. I dont know who is right or wrong but this definitely feels like a straight to dvd release instead of being a legit theater comedy. The concept and acting were pretty cool but the writing seemed lazy and just wasnt that funny.

The story is about a group of 4 nerdy friends that love the Star Wars universe. Its 6 months away from the release of Episode 1 and they are psyched to see it. One of the friends, Linus (Chris Marquette), is dying from cancer and might not live long enough to see it. So their master plan is to drive to California and break into George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch and steal a print. Along the way they stop in Austin to meet Harry Knowles (played by Randy from My Name is Earl) in a very lame scene, to get contact information that they need to break into the Ranch. Then they drive to Las Vegas to meet this contact at a Star Trek convention.

Its not that the jokes are all unfunny its just they are so damn obvious. The movie follows such a cookie cutter formula that its easy to predict. Also they have two encounters with Trek fans which was funny the first time but the second time was already played out. I was kinda surprised with the popularity of Seth Rogan now, that they didnt push the fact he was in it more. He plays two roles, a Star Trek nerd and a white trash Star Wars lover which I both quite enjoyed.

Im sure from all the hoopla the movie's gotten over the years its going to be pretty popular once its released, but just dont expect anything groundbreaking. I actually saw this about a week ago and Ive already forgotten about half the movie already. A pretty weak effort from something that should have been kick ass. On a scale of 1-10 I give this a Jar Jar Binks tattoo 5.2 out of 10.

Trailer