The Fanatic follows Moose, played by John Travolta, an autistic man who enjoys the movies of actor Hunter Dunbar, played by Devon Sawa. Moose finally gets an opportunity to meet Dunbar and get his autograph, only of Dunbar to get pulled away at the last moment due to a family issue. Moose becomes obsessed with obtaining Dunbar’s autograph and soon begins stalking him and taking things too far.
It’s extremely difficult to review this movie seriously. To call it illogical would be a severe understatement. This is a movie that is not only totally devoid of logic, but also of character, and of intelligence. It’s insanely cartoonish, though it somehow wants its audience to buy its characters as real people, when there are actual cartoon characters who think and behave closer to real people than just about anyone in this movie.
Travolta’s Moose is an anomaly. He is every bad trait of obsessive fans all combined in one and the movie uses autism to hide behind all those traits as a way to explain his behavior. Or at least, it’s implied to be autism, as it’s never directly stated what he has. But what is known is that he whines, he cries, he screams, and he repeats himself nearly every second he’s on screen, all while spewing godawful dialogue that’s never once redeemable, such as announcing how he “has to poo.”
But what’s just so oddly fascinating about the whole thing is just how hard Travolta is clearly trying here. Not that his performance even remotely hits the mark, but he’s clearly giving every bit of effort in bringing this total mess of a character to life. It becomes almost unintentionally enjoyable to just watch him horribly fail at trying to salvage all the backwards thinking and horrible behavior.
But Moose is not even remotely close to a likable character due to every terrible decision he makes and painful line of dialogue he screams. And neither is Hunter Dunbar, who one would think would be painted in a somewhat sympathetic light, considering he’s the victim of Moose’s stalking. But this guy might even be worse. He’s immediately rude with Moose right off the bat, and even threatens to beat him up before Moose even gets close to stalker territory.
There really isn’t anyone to root for in this movie, and that also includes this movie’s baffling choice of a narrator. Ana Golja plays Leah, a paparazzi photographer who’s friends with Moose, despite being less than half his age. It’s never explained how she and Moose are friends, though all that’s known is that she’s an awful friend, as well as an awful narrator. When she’s not delivering putrid lines of dialogue such as, “Moose didn’t just cross the line, he f**king nuked it,” her delivery is otherwise just pure lazy.
She’s also the one who gives Moose Dunbar’s address in the beginning of the movie after their initial missed encounter, despite seeing how clearly on edge Moose is. And she’ll occasionally check in every so often and hear just how horrible the situation is getting, and just give Moose a stern talking-to. And she’s so far removed from the action that it makes no sense how she would even have the knowledge to comment on any of this as the film’s narrator.
And speaking of the action, how Moose even gets away with even one of the things he does in this movie is beyond me. He chokes a guy in broad daylight on a busy sidewalk. He posts creepy photos implicating himself on his public social media. He’s repeatedly seen trying to break into Dunbar’s home. Yet somehow this seems to just fall under literally everyone’s radar. And even when Dunbar’s in a position to do something about it, he never decides once to file a restraining order or call the cops on him. And after the first couple of times he fails to do this, one begins to hope he gets the worst possible punishment for his stupidity.
The movie is co-written and directed by Fred Durst, also known as the front man for the rap-rock band Limp Bizkit. And if one wasn’t sure who Limp Bizkit is, don’t worry, because there’s a scene in which Dunbar plays them for his son and repeatedly comments just how great the band is. That one moment pretty sums up just how shallow and on-the-nose this movie is. There’s never any nuance to these characters, subtlety to Durst’s direction, or compelling about the story. It’s a movie that’s loud, buffoonish, and embarrassing.
The Fanatic is really a new low in filmmaking. I’m not even sure if it’s appropriate to call it “so bad it’s good,” but it is fascinating to just watch how exactly this train wreck unfold. To list everything that it does wrong would cause this review to go on for another few paragraphs. But it’s something that needs to be seen to believed. I’d say check it out because there’s truly nothing like it out there, though I don’t mean that in a good way by any means. There may be some unintentional laughs in there though for those who do decide to check it out. But if this isn’t the worst movie of the year, then I don’t know what is.
Recommendation: Watch It… Then Kill It With Fire
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