The Washington Post - 30.08.2019

21

EZ

THE WASHINGTON POST

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019

Movies

The Fanatic 

Nothing here to get obsessed about

Ratings guide

Masterpiece



Very good



Okay



Poor



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BY MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN

I’ll say one thing for John Tra-
volta’s performance in “The Fa-
natic,” a movie about a rabidly
movie-obsessed loser who goes
off the deep end when he meets —
and is rebuffed by — his favorite
actor: He’s committed. Adopting
an awkward gait, a nervous, grat-
ing delivery, nerdy glasses and an
unflattering haircut that is one
part mullet, one part jarhead and
one part Lloyd Christmas in
“Dumb and Dumber,” the actor
invests the kind of intensity in his
role that suggests he’s angling for
an award of some kind. Unfortu-
nately for him, the movie — di-
rected by Limp Bizkit frontman-
turned-filmmaker Fred Durst,
whose experience with a stalker-

like fan is said to have inspired

the film — does not live up to the

extravagantly wounded ferocity

with which Travolta attacks his

part.

It doesn’t even live up to the

haircut. “The Fanatic” is a psycho-

logical thriller with no real psy-

chological insights or particular

thrills, other than the gratuitous

violence with which the story

climaxes.

The 65-year-old actor plays

Moose, a childlike man who ap-

pears to eke out a living as a

Hollywood street performer, por-

traying a mustachioed British bob-

by on the sidewalks of Tinseltown,

collecting tips from tourists. (Tra-

volta has described the character

as “slightly, maybe, on the special

needs spectrum.”) His only friend

seems to be a papparazza (Ana

Golja) who helps him track down

the home address of the action star

(Devon Sawa) on whom Moose is

fixated, after Moose is brushed off

by the egotistical actor at an auto-

graph-signing appearance.

Moose then appears at the

man’s front door, crosses paths

with his car, climbs into his back-

yard (where he is chased off by a

housekeeper, played by Marta

González Rodin) and inevitably

enters his house, where — well,

you can probably guess where

this is going. It ain’t good.

Neither is the movie, which

limps along, episodically, until

the crescendoing — and predict-

ably bloody — denouement.

There’s surprising sympathy

for Moose, given Durst’s reported

history with his own unhinged

fan. In fact, Sawa’s Hunter Dun-

bar — a performer who seems to

be known for such B movies as the

laughably titled “Space Vam-

pires” — is the bad guy here: a jerk

with a justifiably angry ex-wife

(Jessica Uberuaga) and an un-

seemly sexual history with his

housekeeper. (Hunter loves Limp

Bizkit music, in what is either

self-deprecation or self-aggran-

dizement.) But that sympathy

doesn’t extend to anything espe-

cially perceptive about the symbi-

otic yet fraught relationship be-

tween celebrities and the celebri-

ty-obsessed, except the observa-

tion that famous people need

their fans. The movie opens with

this quote: “You’re a fan. Without

you, I’m nothing,” attributed to

Hunter. (The film also is divided

into sections by odd drawings

that seem to hint at M oose’s p rick-

ly emotional state.)

Delivering a wacky, at times

uncomfortably hammy portrayal

of neediness, Travolta is certainly

watchable. But “The Fanatic” is

hardly a worthy showcase for

such a bold — and, yes, at times

brave — piece of acting. It’s a

schlocky setting for a weird little

addition to Travolta’s résumé.

[email protected]

BRIAN DOUGLAS/QUIVER DISTRIBUTION

R. At AMC’s Hoffman Center 22. Contains some strong violence and crude language throughout. 90 minutes.

Travolta intrigues in an

otherwise lackluster film

about celebrity worship

John Travolta, left, stars as a

man obsessed with an action-

movie star played by

Devon Sawa, right. The

psychological thriller is

loosely based on an

experience director (and Limp

Bizkit frontman) Fred Durst

had with a stalker-like fan.