Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

Fanboys: ©2008 The Weinstein Company,LLC. All rights reserved. Artwork © 2009 Weinstein Company. All rights reserved

It’s 1998. A quintet of geeks, one of whom is dying of cancer, get it into their heads to drive to California, break into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, and steal a copy of the as-yet-unreleased Star Wars, Episode One. There’s nothing remotely original about this genial road movie, and it appears to have been edited with a light saber. Several of them. But the fun here is in the details (their van horn is a Wookiee wail) and the dozens of throwaway gags. The cameos alone are worth the ticket price. You must, of course, be a fan. Classic (prophetic?) final line: “Hey, what if the movie sucks?”