This article was published on the original Sorry I’m Late.com on 21/06/09.

It’s 1998, and for four die-hard Star Wars fans (they’re fanboys. Get it?) anticipation for the new Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace, to be released in nearly fifteen years has reached boiling point. Upon revealing that one buddy Linus (Marquette) has terminal cancer, and with not enough time to live to make the theatrical release of the film, the group (Huntington, Baruchel and Fogler) embark on a cross country journey to George Lucas’ famed Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough copy of the film. Joined by nerd-girl Zoe (Bell), road trip fun and shenanigans ensue on their very own hero’s journey.

Don’t be turned off by the very clichéd road movie plot, because although Fanboys follows similar tropes seen in many that have come before it, the film is just too damn charming to not like. And it’s quite possible that it couldn’t have been. Producer Harvey Weinstein’s vision of this much maligned film (originally set for release in 2007) was a final cut that saw the cancer subplot ditched for, well, nothing apparently. A big mistake it would have been, our friend Yoda would have said. The cancer subplot drives the entire narrative, and was never played with too much emotion but enough for to get a connection with the audience without being depressing. Kudos to the filmmakers involved who stood for their original vision, even though it delayed the release by years.

Also, without the cancer plot, the driving force and emotional core that it is, this movie would have been in major jeopardy of receiving a Dr. Ian Malcolm. Not cool.

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