Either Mark Mothersbaugh (composer for “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenebaums”) is losing his touch or we’re getting crotchety-er. It would be easy to assume the latter, but no, sorry, Mothersbaugh’s score to “Fanboys,” is terrible. Sure, it was purposely meant to ape and redo the “Star Wars” music as closely as possible without having John Williams team of lawyers burst down the front door of the music studio, M-16s a-blazing, but we still couldn’t help but be massively disappointed with it. Yes, we understand – especially in this economy – a job is a job is a job. The lights don’t keep themselves on. And yes, director Kyle Newman did get two key John Williams songs in the movie (but they must’ve gone by super quick, because we hardly noticed them). But, yeah. Not one for the ages.
Wait, what’s this nerdfest about? A group of “Star Wars” obsessives who travel to Skywalker Ranch to steal an early copy of “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” so their terminally ill buddy can watch a copy of what eventually becomes known as the movie that ruined childhood, before he kicks off this mortal coil. The soundtrack to the film is equally undesirable, but since the film is set in 1998, we must admit the bad, one-hit wonder alt-rock and hip-hop is basically from the time and place (funny, Kevin Smith had similar music in ‘Zack & Miri,’ do nerds have an affection for bad ’90s rock? Do we smell trend piece?).
“Fanboys” soundtrack
“Tubthumping” – Chumbawamba
“Whoomp There It Is” – Tag Team
“The Choice Is Yours” – Black Sheep
“Lit Up” – Buck Cherry
“Imperial March” – John Williams
“Gotta Give It To Them” – Lexicon
“Limelight” – Rush
“Broken Heart For Sale” – Heather Myles
“39 Southbound” – Mr.Badwrench
“Fuego” – Menudo
“Lump” – Presidents of the United States of America
“Mindblowing” – Kevin Cole
“Everyday Should Be A Holiday” – The Dandy Warhols
“On Star” – Selectracks Studio Ensemble
“Baby Got Going” – Liz Phair
“Tom Sawyer” – Rush
“Star Wars Main Title Theme” – John Williams
“Fair” – Remy Zero
“In The Meantime” – Spacehog
“Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare” – Alfred Newman
Will their be a soundtrack CD? Seems doubtful, considering the drama this film went through. The movie itself? Well, we’ll get to that later, but you can probably guess. The geeks will eat this up like an all-you-can eat buffet though and they can mark it on their calendar: it comes out in limited release on February 6. Another movie music trend? Comedies love Rush and the Canadian power-rock trio are going to be all over films this year. Not only are their two Rush tracks in “Fanboys,” Dan Fogler’s character is a Rush-obsessive and the band will turn up as themselves later this year in the Paul Rudd, Jason Segel comedy, “I Love You, Man.”