Fanboys

Sam Huntington (Eric), Christopher Marquette (Linus), Dan Fogler (Hutch), Jay Baruchel (Windows) and Kristen Bell (Zoe).
There are enough good jokes in “Fanboys,” a road comedy about geeks on a “Star Wars”-related quest, to satisfy hard-core fans of that George Lucas franchise. But the film doesn’t have the boosters, or thrusters, or whatever, to elevate it to more ambitious heights; it’s weighed down by tired conventions and a general sense of having missed its moment. It’s 1998, and Sam Huntington, Christopher Marquette, Dan Fogler and Jay Baruchel play friends in Ohio who haven’t been able to let go of their childhood obsession with “Star Wars.” The plot device of young men who refuse to mature has never felt more exhausted, maybe because these actors or ones who look like them have already done this shtick in other movies.

The buddies decide they can’t wait any longer for the long-awaited “Phantom Menace” (which was released in 1999), and drive to California to steal a rough cut from Mr. Lucas’s ranch.

The trip is full of guy-road-trip clichés: a stop in Las Vegas, a trip to jail, assorted attempts to get female motorists to flash their breasts. But the film does get laughs out of the boys’ hostile encounters with fans of that other space franchise, “Star Trek,” and out of cameos by “Star Wars” alumni like Carrie Fisher.