The Fanatic (2019) Movie Review

The Fanatic (2019) - Movie Review - Quick Movie Reviews by Haris

The story is inspired by a real-life fan who pursued Limp Bizkit’s frontman Fred Durst many years ago, and the screenplay was written by Durst and Dave Bekerman. It follows Moose (John Travolta), who gets cheated out of meeting his favorite action hero, Hunter Dunbar (Devon Sawa). Moose then hunts down Dunbar to get the celebrity interaction he feels he deserves. At first it’s all harmless, but, Moose’s actions begin to take a dark turn. Against the advice of his friend Leah (Ana Golja), Moose begins to frequently visit Hunter’s home. As the visits continue to escalate, Dunbar finds himself in increasing danger.

The plot could make for very interesting movie, but, the poorly written and stupid characters are what really make this movie uninteresting. But what kept me interested in terms of entertainment is John Travolta’s over the top performance. Describing it to you would not do it justice, you just have to see it to believe it. The only one that is not completely terrible in this movie is Leah (Ana Golja), Moose’s paparazzi friend. But there was one decision with her character that made me ask myself: ”Could you possibly have made a dumber choice?”… Throughout the movie she gives voice-over narration even though the movie isn’t told from her perspective at all. I did like one voice over line that made me laugh so hard that my face muscles were hurting: ”Moose didn’t just cross the line, he fucking nuked it!”… I don’t know why that made me laugh so hard, but it did 😂

Also, nothing gets resolved in this movie, it just ends. Oh, and I forgot to mention this… The first line of John Travolta’s dialogue in this movie was a sign that I’m in for a great time with this movie: ”I can’t talk too long, I gotta poo.” 😂

Also something that I noticed in the background of a scene where Moose is talking to his friend on Hollywood Boulevard, somebody is taking a selfie right behind John Travolta. This could be because it’s Hollywood Boulevard and they wanted an extra to do that, or it’s actually just somebody walking on Hollywood Boulevard and just taking a selfie with John Travolta because they realise he’s filming a movie. I really hope it’s the second one 😂

This movie is so bad that it’s good. I can’t give it my lowest grade, though. There are some stuff that I liked, they had the potential to make this into a good movie. Devon Sawa and Ana Golja were good in the movie, and that’s pretty much where the positives end. I’m giving this a 3/10*, but make no mistake, I highly recommend you watch it 🙂

Director: Fred Durst
Written by: Fred Durst, Dave Bekerman
Starring: John Travolta, Devon Sawa, Ana Golja
Runtime: 89 minutes