The Fanatic

Back in 2000 Devon Sawa starred in the video for Eminem's song Stan, a song about a psychotic fan who murdered his girlfriend and killed himself in an attempt to get the rapper's attention. The song was a monster hit and the video was omnipresent, you literally couldn't get away from it. 6 years before that John Travolta was riding high. Pulp Fiction was everywhere as it had just won the Palme D'or at the Canne Festival and Travolta's star was as high as it had ever been. 19 years later they both star together in The Fanatic. It will be without a doubt the lowest point of either career. Things can only go back up from here. They have to.

Moose is a film fan. He lives and breathes them. They are his life. He has nothing else apart from panhandling on Hollywood Boulevard for loose change. Every penny he has goes on props and collectibles from films and his main hobby is building his library of film star autographs. Moose is also rather unstable and when his favourite film star, Hunter Dunbar, rebuffs his offer of friendship at a signing event he goes off the deep end. In a spectacular fashion.

"I can't talk too long. I gotta poo." The first words in this piece of shit are very apt. It's atrocious stuff. A story that's been done to death and wrapped around a performance from John Travolta that would put any other career into a shallow grave. He's appalling. His is a take on mental illness that wouldn't look out of place in a Wayans Brother movie and it both infantilises and mocks people afflicted with mental health problems. I cannot fathom how anyone thought this take on a role would be a good one. Remember that Gary Oldman film from years ago where he played a dwarf? This makes that look like Oscar material. Someone should have dragged him aside and reminded him of his former glory. "Danny Zuko, Chili Palmer, Sean Archer, Tony Manero, Vincent fucking Vega!! You're better than this trash!!" You'll watch his every scene through your fingers. From behind the couch. While you rock back and forth. And maybe cry.

That's if you haven't turned it off after 10 minutes because Travolta is far from the only issue here. It's aimless, it has pointless sporadic narration, it's all over the place, it whimpers to a close rather than ending and it's just plain ugly. Director Fred Durst (Yes, him of Limp Bizkit fame. Apparently this story is based on events that happened to him) does not have a good eye and it makes for bland unappealling watching. It's boring, it drags even with a running time of 90 minutes and no one shines. No one. The supporting cast is amateur hour 101 and is full of faces you're guaranteed never to see again.

Devon Sawa as Hunter isn't bad though and plays Hunter as a truly irredeemable piece of muck. It's here where a slight comparison to Scorsese's King Of Comedy pops up. That far far far superior watch was also about a celeb and an unhinged fan except that had an amazing Robert De Niro and a very nasty Jerry Lewis. Like Lewis's role Sawa's performance has a big ring of truth about it. Actors in genre movies do tend to attract a stranger type of fan and it's very easy to imagine them getting bothered by it all. That's it though. That's all this film has going for it. A good performance from an actor playing a character you'll hate. It's not enough is it. We need something more than that.

Don't waste your time with this dull and offensive psychological thriller that dies a death instead of offering anything new. Travolta is appalling but at least he's finally made a film that's worse than Battlefield Earth. That's something to hold onto i suppose.