When Fanboys Attack.

Fanboys is a comedy about Star Wars nerds that’s apparently so goddamn good that it only got released in a few theaters. (It’s not playing anywhere near Portland, so no Mercury review—but if you’re curious, check out Paul Constant’s take on the film over at The Stranger.)

In his review of Fanboys, Roger Ebert struck a little too close to home for some Star Wars fans.

Extreme fandom may serve as a security blanket for the socially inept, who use its extreme structure as a substitute for social skills. If you are Luke Skywalker and she is Princess Leia, you already know what to say to each other, which is so much safer than having to ad-lib it. Your fannish obsession is your beard. If you know absolutely all the trivia about your cubbyhole of pop culture, it saves you from having to know anything about anything else. That’s why it’s excruciatingly boring to talk to such people: They’re always asking you questions they know the answer to.

But enough about my opinions; what about Fanboys? Its primary flaw is that it’s not critical. It is a celebration of an idiotic lifestyle, and I don’t think it knows it.

“Your fannish obsession is your beard.” Awesome. And okay, Ebert’s pretty harsh, but I think it’s fair to point out that it’s not like he’s not totally off the mark—I suspect there’s more truth in his review than a lot of hardcore geeks would be willing to admit. (And it’s not like I’m looking down from on high, here—this in currently front of my keyboard, and this presides over the top of my bookshelf. Whatever, dude. Chicks totally dig Jabba.)

But guess who disagrees with Ebert’s psychoanalysis? None other than Jimmy Mac, “the Chicago-based co-host of the ‘The Force-Cast,’ the most downloaded Star Wars podcast on the net.” Mac wrote a letter to Ebert and went after the dude like a pissed-off wampa, even calling out the Eeb for being like the one critic on the planet who waxed rhapsodic over Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace.

Since your positive review of The Phantom Menace, you have pretty much ripped on anything having to do with Star Wars. Is this your way of making it up to your cronies in your industry??? Are you embarrassed you admitted you liked Phantom Menace (a wonderful film) in the first place?

My other favorite part of the letter is this, which seems to sum up everything pretty nicely.

An idiotic lifestyle??? How dare you Roger Ebert. How dare you.

Then things get threatening. In the least threatening way possible.

Oh yeah, and since you claim “the movie would have been better if it poked more fun of Star Wars fans,” then I suggest if you ever see me, a Star Wars fan, walking down Michigan Ave. in Chicago, why don’t you try to make fun of me? We shall see how funny THAT truly would be. I guarantee you that I will be the only one walking away laughing. To quote Luke Skywalker to Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi, “It’s the last mistake you’ll ever make.”

Jimmy Mac also claims Ebert refused to share a pizza with him one time, and also fell asleep on his shoulder during a screening of The Empire Strikes Back. Grrr! Ebert has the whole letter posted here.