Flat Fanboys

Take a good look at that poster.
Because it's a sign of what went wrong with Fanboys the movie.

Take look at this Wired article to see the long tortured history of Fanboys, but the short version is Ernie Cline, the ultimate Stars Wars fan, harnessed the power of Lucas fandom to make a movie about Star Wars fans.

Fanboys the movie is actually about a group of Star Wars fans driving across country to break into the Skywalker Ranch to see The Phantom Menance. Oh, and of course of their friends has cancer.

The movie's been in film limbo for years. Fans were teased at comic conventions. Producer Kevin Spacey kept tinkering. Studios cut the cancer plot out. Then put it back in.

Now here it is, 3 years late. Stale and sadly unfunny.

It's not for lack of trying. Fanboys is crammed with Star Wars humour. Every freakin second line of dialogue is a lift from the movie. "The force is strong with this one...." "She's got it where it counts" etc. There are Star Wars sound effects. Everyone wears Star Wars t-shirts. There are even Star Wars edits, the famous Lucas screen wipes.

But somewhere in the middle someone forgot to make a GOOD MOVIE.

A road movie where a bunch of dudes drive across country isn't breaking new ground. Having the pretty girl fall for the shy nerd doesn't either. No amount of cameos (Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Wiliam Shatner) can save this film.

Which brings me back to the poster. Again it's a collection of in-jokes. If you're a geek you probably can tell they're riffing off the "motivational posters" meme that's all over the net.

Funny? Well maybe if you're one of geeks who get the joke.

But what about the rest of us? What about the average movie going public? All they'll see is an ugly poster with a lame graphic.

Now compare that to this. Much better poster, that's at least visually interesting.

Seems to be a sign of what wrong here with this film. Someone that's happening a little too often. Increasingly fans and filmmakers are feeding off each other. Look at Watchmen. Fans were in the loop from the get go. But at some point you need to stop and make your own movie. You can't make a movie by committee. That why they have directors. What the real fans appreciate is vision, originality, something fresh.

Goodness knows there's a movie to made about living in the Star Wars universe. As someone raising a budding Star fan I've thought a little to long about what Lucas' re-imagined fairy tale brought to audiences.

But Fanboys doesn't do that justice. Frankly Fanboys insults it. Replacing best elements of an ambitious space opera with boob jokes and bad puns.

EPIC FAIL as the kids say.