Movie review – “Fanboys” (2008) **

This has a great central concept – a bunch of hard core Star Wars fans try to see Phantom Menace before it’s released – but it never quite works. The cancer subplot is fine – you need it to motivate the action and give the whole thing some depth (i.e. what is the meaning of life). But somehow this just misses. The cast in particular isn’t quite right – especially the lead guy, the cancer guy and the funny fat man; you kept wanting a bit of Judd Apatow casting in there. Also the adventures seemed a bit forced – some stuff which sounded great on paper (eg fighting with Star Trek fans) never quite works; its as if they couldn’t get the tone right. The romantic subplot is undeveloped, ditto the friendship subplot - actually a lot of subplots. And they repeat some things, such as the outside guy having to repeat a Star Wars trivia. There are an impressive array of cameos.