In The Fanatic, John Travolta stars as Moose, a lonely movie-obsessed man living and working in Los Angeles. A keen collector of film memorabilia, there is one thing that his collection does not have, an autograph from his movie hero, Hunter Dunbar (played by Devon Sawa). After an autograph op with Dunbar gets cut short and Moose misses out on that vital signature, he turns to his paparazzi friend Leah (Ana Golja) for help. She shares with him her ‘map of the stars’ app, which allows people to search for the homes of Hollywood’s elite. Moose uses this new information to try and connect with his hero, but events take a deadly turn and he is one fanboy that Hunter might not survive.
The film is sound technically, the cinematography from Conrad W. Hall (son of multiple Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad L. Hall) highlights Los Angeles’ underbelly beautifully. There’s a focus on the seedy side streets that we don’t get too often, as well as a more gritty look at those that earn a living entertaining on the Walk of Fame. It is with the story however, that the wheels start to come off. The story is reportedly, at least in part, inspired by Durst’s own experience with a deranged fan. Rather than use this personal and emotional attachment to craft a close-to-the-bone study of toxic fandom and the odd compulsion some have to fixate on a star, Durst instead opts to push everything to the next level. The result of this approach is that The Fanatic comes across as excessively exaggerated, almost cartoonish, and at times just plain silly.
Related: The Fanatic home release details
As with the movie itself, Travolta’s Moose is a fairly accurate portrayal of a fanatic at the beginning of the film. Anyone that has spent some time around the film and comic convention circuits will recognise many aspects of Moose. This is especially the case in an early scene at a premiere after-party, when Moose fails to play by social norms and polite etiquette as he demands a signature from one of the attendees. He expects the attendee’s cooperation purely because he is an admirer of their work and that, he believes, entitles him to something. After this though, Moose seems to flit between just two modes – timid, meek man-child, and crazy, angry fan. This decision to keep the character confined to just the two notes makes other aspects of his turn appear as parody, and given Moose’s clear intellectual disability, it borders on bad taste. He’s clearly a man in need of help, not vilification.
The cleverest thing that Durst has done with The Fanatic is his casting of Devon Sawa as Hunter. As many will remember, Sawa was the lead in the first Final Destination movie and Idle Hands, two of the best genre films of the early noughties. Around the same time, he also appeared in the Eminem music video for Stan. In this video, he played the titular Stan, a young man obsessed with his musical hero, and one who took drastic measures when his fan letters were not responded to. Here Sawa is, in a roundabout way, flipped into the Eminem role, and it makes for a nice little Easter Egg for those of us old enough to recall the video being permanently played on The Box. Unfortunately, outside of the casting, Sawa’s character only has one thing to do – be angry at Moose ALL. OF. THE. TIME. His flying off of the handle from the get-go just means that there isn’t really anywhere left for him to go as Moose ups his stalking game.
With The Fanatic, Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst continues his quest to be a filmmaker with a tale of fandom gone awry. The Fanatic’s reputation proceeds it, and sadly it isn’t a great one. It was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards and saw John Travolta landed the award for worst Actor for his turn as Moose. The film lost out in its other two nominated categories (Director and Film), to Cats. After watching The Fanatic, it’s pretty easy to see where all the negativity springs from, though it’s not quite as terrible as you may think. The Fanatic is not quite so bad that it is good, but rather has more of that car crash quality; as terrible as it may be, you cannot help but continue watching.
The Fanatic is released on Digital HD on 8th June, with the DVD releasing on 20th July.
