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Fanboys
EMAILPRINTThe Weinstein Company

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 19 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Adventure | Comedy
Written by:
Ernest Cline
Adam F. Goldberg
Directed by: Kyle Newman
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 6, 2009
DVD: May 19, 2009
Running Time: 90 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for pervasive crude and sexual material, language and drug content
Starring Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Carrie Fisher, Christopher McDonald, and William Shatner
It's 1998 and "Star Wars" fanboys across the globe eagerly await the release of "Episode I." But for Eric, Linus, Hutch and Windows the term "fanboy" is more than just a title, it's a badge of honor. Spurred by impatience and an undying loyalty to their cause, these former high school friends reunite to undertake the road trip of their fan-tasies. Traveling West across the country to visit their Mecca - George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch - the plan is to break in, steal the film and stake their claim as the first fanboys in history to watch it. But to secure their place in the fanboy hall of fame, they'll have to contend with bizarre bikers, a crazy pimp, a deranged group of trekkies and the quiet intensity of William Shatner. (The Weinstein Company)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
A hilariously spry effort from an equally unpromising premise.
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
You'd think the weakest link in Fanboys would be that it's all in-jokes, but they're actually not so "in" that a casual fan won't get them.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Unfortunately, while Fanboys has moments of success, it is mostly a middling road picture that doesn't do a lot more than any average, forgettable entry into the tired genre.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Delayed a couple of years, shown to fans at conventions and retooled, Fanboys is an uneven and largely predictable adventure, but it has its moments.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
At times, Fanboys is every rowdy low-budget '80s road movie you've ever seen on Cinemax at 2 in the morning. What keeps the movie near, if not actually in, hyperdrive is its love of deep-dish geek culture and a gaggle of cameo appearances.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The most appealing aspect of the movie is that the guys and gal at the center of it don't just love the Star Wars saga for its own sake. They love the way they feel about each other when they're escaping into its universe and sharing all the wonder and the trivia.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Mildly cute, mildly drooly, majorly too late spoof/homage.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
For its amusing premise, Fanboys is scarily flat.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Sam Adams
Fanboys doesn't have a fan's obsessive attention to detail, or the giddy geekiness that can make Tarantino's movies both thrilling and trying. It's not nearly nerdy enough.
Read Full Review >Variety Peter Debruge
End result feels like an uneven cross between an amateur "Project Greenlight" pic and such recent comedies as "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express," in which indie directors brought a certain edge to material that might once have felt more at home under the National Lampoon label.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
A genial, sloppy, minor affair, offering a smidgen of inside baseball, which includes a gag at the expense of the forgotten, late '80s Lucas-produced epic "Willow."
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Fanboys has a lot of talent in its margins, including Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen, and other usual suspects.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Neil Genzlinger
There are enough good jokes in Fanboys, a road comedy about geeks on a "Star Wars"-related quest, to satisfy hard-core fans of that George Lucas franchise. But the film doesn't have the boosters, or thrusters, or whatever, to elevate it to more ambitious heights; it's weighed down by tired conventions and a general sense of having missed its moment.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
It comes as no surprise that the film is less about fandom as it is about the community fans create with one another – who else to turn to when the object of your affection, your enduring obsession, blows big chunks? – and Fanboys, a likable, shaggy picture, pays nice tribute to that community.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
A lame comic tribute to the dwindling band of "Star Wars" aficionados, is one of those be nighted projects whose back story turns out to be significantly more compelling than the movie itself.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
I love that fanboys fought for Fanboys. Unfortunately, their passion was misplaced.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Turns out a movie about an infatuated bunch of Star Wars nerds can really set your teeth on edge.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Fanboys, directed by Kyle Newman, doesn't delve into the mania of fandom, it exploits it.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Given how insultingly fanboys are portrayed, even the fan base could be put off.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Mike Mayo
The result has a cobbled-together feeling. The Force is not strong with this one.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Its primary flaw is that it's not critical. It is a celebration of an idiotic lifestyle, and I don't think it knows it.
Read Full Review >Premiere Patrick Parker
It's tough to get through because it's so slow; the beautiful Kristen Bell, who we love in almost everything, doesn't fit in with a bunch of nerds.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
The one genuine bright spot among the performers is Kristen Bell as Windows's would-be girlfriend, his dream combination of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Janeane Garofalo.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.8 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
George M gave it a3:
Being a HUGE Star Wars fan, especially during my younger years, I always thought a movie about its rabid fans would be a perfect idea for a comedy. Now that we have one...I wonder "what happened?"...the perfect idea for a nerd-comedy got flushed down the toilet. The problem is...the film just isn't that funny, the jokes and gags just feel so cliche, predictable, and executed poorly (the over-the-top scenes with the Trekkies was eyeroll after eyeroll, and it "could" have been hilarious). I for one, am NOT a fan of the cancer story...in my opinion its a dark cloud that constantly hangs over this movie and given the kind of comedy in this film, it seems so out of place. The casting is excellent (though I'm not sure what Kristen Bell was doing there) but unfortunately the comedic talent dosen't get to shine here, the actors used feel very wasted here...as in...I've seen the guys in other films, and they were FUNNY, not so much here. Anyway, the movie ends in predictable fashion with no surprises what so ever...and all I can do is feel bummed that this great oppurtunity was wasted. A curious rent perhaps...but an AVOID overall.
Patrick I gave it a2:
Awful. Totally awful. It was so bad I paused it about 3/4 of the way through and couldn't muster the energy to finish it off. Beyond the predictably lame plot, Dan Fogler is by far the least amusing thing about this film, and it's about a kid with cancer! He is literally less funny then cancer.
mike k gave it a9:
This was probably funnier to me than most being a complete fanboy my self and the guest stars where great.
Jay H. gave it a6:
Likable but overall it's a pretty routine comedy that has a plot that is all too familiar. The cast is entertaining. Not bad, but it's not very memorable.
J M. gave it a10:
An excellent tribute to Lucas and all things scifi.
