A Galaxy Far, Far Away

2001 documentary

Rating: 8/20

Plot: Attempts to document the eccentrics who geek over Star Wars obsessively, interviewing the toy collectors, the costume-wearing conventioneers, and the weirdos who waited in line forty-two days before the premiere of The Phantom Menace.

Just like Trekkies except with a different franchise, a lot less objectivity, and a lot more snarkiness. Filmmaker Tariq Jalil is as much a "character" in this movie as Michael Moore is in his. I don't need to see footage of Tariq Jalil and his buddy surfing the Internet to find other aspring filmmakers willing to shoot footage of people standing in line for Episode 1. I didn't need to see footage of Jalil interviewing a reporter from a Los Angeles news show and then showing the exact same interview from the station's camera that appeared on the evening news. You made it on the news, Jalil? Los Angeles now knows you're a maker of documentaries? Good for you! Jalil's voice is incredibly annoying and the approach to the subject matter was condescending. There's some entertainment value here if you just let the visuals and the people speak for themselves. What's not to love about a hip hop Boba Fett or breakdancing stormtroopers or a band in Star Wars costumes (a really tall Yoda on bass guitar) singing about, well, Star Wars? But when Jalil tries to make it much more by juxtaposing his footage of people buying Star Wars toys with people in Kosovo fighting for food, I really lost interest. And patience. This shouldn't have been a documentary about how witty Tariq Jalil can be.

Here he is. He's important.