Fanboys

Nerd culture reigns supreme and the geeks do indeed inherit in Kyle Newman's Fanboys, an amiable comedy about a group of rabid Star Wars fans who, in 1999, take a cross-country road trip to see the new movie before it comes out.

The five friends represent a near-encyclopedic variety along the spectrum of geekiness: at the far end, Hutch (Dan Fogler) and Windows (Jay Baruchel) are undersexed comic book store clerks who play Nintendo in a garage outfitted with every Star Wars toy under the sun. Hutch is obnoxious and Windows awkward, and Zoe (Kristen Bell) is just nerdy enough that she doesn't even register as a girl. Straight-arrow Eric (Sam Huntington) is an ex-nerd who decided to yield to the demands of the real world, which in his case means selling used cars for his dad's store -- a betrayal in the eyes of Linus (Christopher Marquette), who is dying of cancer.

According to the release countdown on Windows' PalmPilot, Linus won't live long enough to see Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The friends decide to go through with a plan hatched in fifth grade: they'll drive from Ohio to California, where they'll break into George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough cut of the film. The ensuing episodic road trip to the innermost sanctum of Star Wars fandom is stuffed with nods to the films, fisticuffs with stuffy Trekkies, and some high-powered cameos.

Much more streamlined than '77, Patrick Read Johnson's autobiographic paean to Star Wars fandom, Fanboys only gestures in the direction of taking an adult interest in its characters' development. Linus's terminal disease is treated as little more than a convenient story device, and everybody else's life-defining choices are resolved in an equally off-handed way. Too busy working clever references into the script, Newman lets slip an opportunity to say something about the reasons people love presumably escapist entertainment as much as they do.

Still, Fanboys is made with care for its characters and their obsession. There are some quality jokes involving dry-humping Ewoks and the secret powers of William Shatner and Harry Knowles. The film's humor falters when it relies on familiar comedy cliches -- I could have done with out the gay biker bar and the prison toilet. Fanboys works best when it trusts its audience with even the most obscure references. At a crucial juncture, I could barely keep myself from bursting out "Kashyyyk!" in the screening room, and I laughed hardest at Baruchel's Willow impression. Another favorite moment involves a Jar-Jar Binks tattoo -- and whether or not that idea strikes you as funny should be a pretty good indicator of whether or not you'll like Fanboys.