The Fanatic (2019)

Naturally, I was anticipating this indie, because I love it when the good old guys take on odd and crazy roles nowadays - no sarcasm whatsoever. It was concerning to see the value of metascore and user reviews, but, nevertheless, I found "The Fanatic" to be quite alright. Let me elaborate.

I have to say I believe that my 6/10 is stemming out partially from a purely subjective viewpoint - objectively it's probably barely average. What I got from "The Fanatic" was good and pulpy fun, offering us nothing new or original plot-wise, but moving at a steady pace and using Travolta as its main attraction. Mad props to John Travolta, the role of a above 40 years old mentally challenged hardcore horror fan & fanatic memorabilia collector was filled from bottom up with Travolta attacking the role with a sure hand. Like, sue me, but I thought it's a great, truly effortful performance. The fanatic making us the fanatics out here. All jokes aside, it was Travoltas performance that kept this movie above the water & that's arguably a fact. From a technical standpoint "The Fanatic" doesn't excel much, but in no way it's below average regarding the cinematography & editing. To be honest, stylistically there were a few cool elements, like the occasional time-lapse drawings with the sharp violin original score pieces. The plot is pretty straight forward & gets wobbly towards the end, where I saw the reason for why a lot of people called out the director for hating mentally challenged people. I'm pretty sure those accusations are not correct. While the ending is hard to decipher, translate the point of it (if there's any), I don't feel like it's a completely tasteless ending. It's different, which is what we, the audience, ask a lot for.

To sum it up, "The Fanatic" is miles form masterpiece, but it's a solid entertainment with it's emotional or extremely awkward (in a good way) moments, and, most of all, with John Travolta who's doing the best he can. My rating: 6/10.

Fmovies: I only saw this (for free) because Chris Stuckmann described it as unintentionally hilarious, and he was right. If you enjoy pointing and laughing at bad movies, give this one a try because I am convinced The Fanatic is going in the So Bad It's Good hall of fame. Seriously, there's about 20 different moments in this movie that could easily become memes. Seeing a household name like Travolta do such an awful job portraying a mentally challenged man (sometimes he acts like he's on the spectrum, other times like he just has severe brain damage) is truly bizarre. P.S, did I mention this is a Fred Durst film?

Ok, so the film itself is not going to win any oscars and its just above average for me but what is it with the doom and gloom merchants slating John Travolta just because his last few movies have been pretty dire - that does not mean he is still not a good actor. After many years of giving us great performances how is it possible to lose any acting ability unless you are mentally ill but sadly this is the usual mentality of trying to bring someone down when they are famous, I though that was just a British thing and the Americans usually do the opposite but it seems that attitude has transferred across the channel?

His performance in this was full of effort and pretty good to me and I have worked with Autistic and mentally ill folks and he does all the little things pretty much spot on - the riding of the scooter wobbling all over the place had me in stitches and his performance is what makes the movie shine above the less than average it would have been given if he had not been in it. In short John Travolta makes the movie rise above the mediocre bargain bin it would have been in without him.

Watch it; never listen to the critics, just use your own judgement and you might be surprised! Honest and above average 6/10 from me!

The Fanatic fmovies. If John Travolta decided to become a spokesperson for adult diapers it would not be as humiliating as this movie. That he was once the gorgeous star of Saturday Night Fever makes the experience of watching this film especially sad. John plays a fanatical overgrown child-man who has "a thing" for a certain actor he ends up stalking, but nothing about this movie rings true. His acting is over the top and painful to watch. Every one else is a cliche and what makes it even worse is that for long stretches it is just plain boring. I never understood why his female friend would put up with him. Strangely the only actor who rises above the bottom of the barrel is Devon Sawa although I have to wonder how he got through those scenes with Travolta over-acting. I guessed the end half-way through the movie as it became preposterous. It is not so bad it's good. It's just depressing, sad and poorly done. Fred Durst and Travolta should never team up again to produce a movie. I only give this 3 stars because some people might delight in watching John Travolta reach what has to be the bottom rung of his career.

After seeing the rating on here i was expecting a lot worse. To be honest, at first i found Travolta's character to be weird and hard to watch but Travolta gave a brilliant performance. Im surprised I'm even writing that myself given my thoughts on his last decades work. This film gives you an insight into how untreated mental illnesses can have damaging effects to their lives. Definitely worth a watch to give your own opinion as i reckon it's a bit like Marmite.

The internet is a dark place which is why I don't read reviews anymore but it was hard to notice how this movie was panned. Travolta took a risk and he nails his endearing character . Fred Durst's story is great take on favs and celebrities. All the actors give realistic performances. Sawa is great as the villain . Things escalate, the music is beautiful and creepy. It is a movie that both entertains you and makes you think. Don't believe the reviews, it's a gem.