In case you’ve never heard of this, The Fanatic is the new film from Fred Durst – yes, that Fred Durst – which is about an obsessed fanboy named Moose, played by John Travolta, who is desperate to get an autograph from his favorite movie star, Hunter Dunbar, played by Devon Sawa. When Hunter gives him the cold shoulder, Moose gets desperate, leading him to stalk the actor, but when, Hunter reacts with more hostility, Moose takes a more dangerous approach to get what he wants.
This is the kind of movie that gets a buzz going for pretty much all the wrong reasons. As soon as you hear the names attached and the premise, it’s sure to grab some people’s attention. And when we got our first look at Moose, with his ugly outfit, and even uglier haircut, fans of enjoyably terrible, misguided schlock were practically foaming at the mouth waiting to see what on Earth this thing even was. Sadly, if you go into this hoping to find that kind of fun, the movie falls short on delivering.
It might surprise some to learn that this is Durst’s third feature following The Education of Charlie Banks and The Longshots, though this is the first one he has a writing credit on, which he is sharing with Dave Bekerman. The idea isn’t inherently bad, as the relationship between fan and artist has been one that has been explored in plenty of films before. Where The Fanatic falters in creating a compelling dynamic is largely in its obvious and clumsy plotting and characterization.
John Travolta cranks his performance up to an absurd degree, resulting in a character that feels like it was pulled from a rejected SNL sketch, and only because of its rather insensitive portrayal of someone who is very clearly on the spectrum. It’s a performance full of ticks, odd mannerisms, and bizarre speech patterns, but none of these elements build to a compelling character. While Moose is the one we follow as the audience, the film makes it pretty clear that what he’s doing is wrong, and the way the movie goes about giving him what apparently deserves just comes across as exceptionally cruel, especially considering his issues are things that could theoretically be dealt with by a combination of therapy and medication. There isn’t much in terms of empathy, and there’s nothing particularly meaningful in the exchanges that happen between Moose and Hunter.
If the film wanted to be a grungy genre piece, that’s perfectly fine. But with the grim tone, and the languid plotting, the film seems far more interested in being taken seriously as an intense drama about a man who’s lack of judgement puts him on a terrible path. We spend a lot of time in the film establishing the mechanics of his day-to-day – his encounters with local friends, his works as one of those street performers on Hollywood Boulevard, and his meet-ups with a paparazzo, Leah (Ana Golja), who not only gives Moose the information he needs to track down Hunter, knowing he might do harm, but also inexplicably narrates the film on occasion, offering nothing that I would describe as insightful.
The Fanatic is the kind of film that is more amusing from a distance, when you’re simply baffled by the people involved, and what the film might be about, but once you actually sit down to watch it, it’s a mostly underwhelming experience. Travolta gives the movie some much needed manic energy, which is enough to make the film reasonably watchable, but it’s not enough to make the film something genuinely worthwhile. The filmmaking is competent enough, considering they’re clearly working on a low budget, but it’s intellectually superficial. There’s not a lot here to latch onto, neither ironically nor unironically. If the film were more fun, even if it meant going trashier and more problematic in the process, maybe there would be something here. As is, the only truly memorable moment, for better or worse, is when Hunter is driving with his young son, and proceeds to crank up Limp Bizkit on the radio, going on about how “sick” it is.