Bullet Points: The Fanatic
I hate to say this but John Travolta’s days of making great movies are in the past. And when I say “great movies” I’m speaking more specifically of the awesomeness of Face/Off, Broken Arrow, and Pulp Fiction and less about Wild Hogs or that one where he dressed like a fat woman. He’s just not the draw that he once was and still refuses to give up this idea that his hair is real! We already know you’re bald, dude. Just let it go! But I couldn’t just let a movie slip by me featuring the acting talents of JT and Devon Sawa while also being directed by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. There was just too much potential for disaster….
Synopsis: Movie super-fan and autograph collector Moose (John Travolta) finally gets to meet his hero Hunter Dunbar (Devon Sawa). Too bad for him the meeting doesn’t go well and he’s left with the feeling that Hunter isn’t such a good guy. Moose then takes it upon himself to make several more attempts to get an autograph from Hunter which eventually leads to a confrontation between the two.
- Unbreakable Moose: I don’t know why we needed a narration from actress Ana Golja a few times throughout this film. It really didn’t add much to the film and it just seemed strange that they kept trying to make me feel sorry for Moose while also showing me just how nutso he was. Tell me again how he was “unbreakable”?
- Ok, story: Travolta plays Moose. He’s clearly not playing with a full deck. I don’t know what he was going for in terms of mental illness or special needs but it’s never mentioned by name so I don’t know whether to feel sorry for him for the hand he’s been dealt or to keep my distance cause he needs some meds. Moose is obsessed with Devon Sawa’s character and he buys all the memorabilia he can.
- Never meet your heroes: It rings true for Moose after he spends top dollar on a leather vest worn by Hunter Dunbar only to have him act like a total dick to him at a signing. To be fair, Moose was acting like a total creepo so I can’t be too judgmental of Dunbar for his actions. The movie feels like it wants me to feel sorry for Moose because Hunter gives him the proverbial “talk to the hand”, but all I feel is sadness that this movie made it this far without someone giving it the kibosh.
- #EndBullying: Is that the true message of the film? Probably. Moose gets bullied by a fellow street performer who is 50% Criss Angel, 50% David Blaine, 100% douche. I can’t tell if this is Moose’s only job (wearing a British Bobby uniform for tips) or not but I highly doubt he’s making much of a living doing it. Maybe douche bully should have tried less to bully him and tried more to get Moose out of the business entirely.
- Home invasion: Not much action in this film….but we’ve finally made it to the point where Moose is probably going to go ape-shit and murder Devon Sawa’s entire family. I was wondering at this point in the movie if I was supposed to wish for that or not. It never treats Moose like he’s some psychopath even though he sneaks around Hunter’s house using his toothbrush and watching his home movies. He even punches the maid so hard it kills her! Moose must have also been watching some Seagal movies cause he one-punches the shit out of her to the point that it’s days later they even find the body.
- Finger lickin’ good: Okay…even though Hunter Dunbar was listening to Limp Bizkit in the car with this son, I still can’t get on board with this movie. Moose goes full psycho finally but instead of wearing Hunter’s face and tucking in his dong, he acts like some cosplay nerd and eventually lets him go. Big mistake! Hunter Dunbar ain’t no bitch and he was just listening to L-I-M-P Bizkit so you know he’s angry. The movie never ends up getting to a point where I was excited to see what might happen next. It was just about two characters that sucked that I didn’t give two shits about.
The Verdict: There is no way that I can give this movie a recommendation. If it had let Moose go crazy a little earlier and maybe kill the magic douche or someone else then maybe it wouldn’t have sucked so bad. Instead, it toed the line of whether or not I should root for Moose while, at the same time, watching him punch the poor maid’s nose into her brain. It has a 4.2 on imdb and I think that is too high. What a pointless film. On the positive side, I don’t believe the direction was terrible by Fred Durst and while the characters and story was outright trash I thought that Travolta (with his quarantine haircut) and Sawa did a good job putting it on screen. So if you’re a super-fan (like Moose!) of Travolta or Devon Sawa then maybe you’ll eat this shit up, but the other 99.9% of the population should probably skip it.
