Fanboys

A road film set in 1998. Four friends decide to break into Skywalker Ranch and watch a print of The Phantom Menace six months before its release. The reason is not a joke: one of them has cancer and has been told he will not live to see it. That turns the trip from a fan fantasy into a farewell. The production became more contentious than its subject. The studio thought the cancer strand weighed the film down, wanted it removed, and reshoots were carried out. Fans campaigned online, and the cancer strand survived into the released version. There are many small parts: Kevin Smith, Seth Rogen, Danny Trejo, Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher and William Shatner. Sam Huntington, Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler and Chris Marquette play the four friends, with Kristen Bell joining them. Enjoyable for Star Wars fans and anyone who likes late-1990s popular culture. For a viewer who does not know the series, most of the jokes are references, and the sections about fighting Star Trek fans run long.