User reviews

This movie does to Travolta what Battlefield Earth did to movies.

You could respect this movie on John Travolta's performance, which is pretty good. He plays the role somewhat believably, and isn't necessarily over-acting or anything like that. Co-stars like Devon Sawa also turn in some good performances as well. Everyone is reasonably believable.

The cinematography is also pretty okay. Scenes are well staged, well lit, and generally the movie looks good, I suppose. On a production level, everything works!

But it's still a very difficult movie to watch. Travolta plays a very innocent character named Moose, who is on the autistic spectrum, and the whole movie is essentially about beating up on him. When it's not beating up on Moose, it's asking you to feel sorry for him. I can't remember a single moment where the movie portrays this guy as a human being. Every single scene is an uncomfortable test of your empathy as everything that can go wrong, does, to the point where it becomes an unrealistic spiral.

As far as concepts for a movie go, that could work, but The Fanatic does not have the subtle touch required to broach the subjects it attempts to tackle. It tries to avoid making Moose look like a monster, but it's still mean spirited and dehumanizing. It's like 88 minutes of watching bullies pick on a nerd, both directly and indirectly, and I found that hard to sit through. Moose is presented almost as a circus side show act, where you're meant to gawk and point and feel pity. This is a movie that revels in second-hand embarrassment.

I could not shake the sense that former musician and Director Fred Durst was working through some issues, and he's admitted the movie is based on personal experiences. I'm sure he's dealt with some pushy fans in his life, and that sucks for him, but this seems like a poor way to express that.

And things don't get any better. Moose continues his downward spiral, constantly making the worst possible decisions, to the point where it almost becomes a cartoonish self-parody. Moose's autism is used as an excuse to wave away even the most absurd plot twists, and it all comes to a peak in a climax I would describe as "frustratingly convenient." I don't know what this movie was trying to say.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, as the credits rolled. This is a cynical movie at best. It offers no justification for why it exists. It says nothing. It's an excuse to make you cringe for an hour and a half. Maybe you like that, but it's not really my style. Though the rest of the film may be competent, as a story, it just sucks.

Avoid The Fanatic.

I know this will be ignored. But I hope it doesn't.

Imagine this: John Travolta still as Moose.

Fred Durst as the paparazzi girl.

Nicolas Cage as the Final Destination actor.

Please.

I BEG you to think about it.

Some movies really need the strangeness of The Nic. And, well... if some people don't agree with this statement, this disaster is here to prove them wrong.

Even the thought of this possibility makes me rase my rating from a 2 to a 3.

This has to be one of the greatest pieces of "so bad it's good" cinema in a while. If you're fans of "The room" , "Birdemic", "showgirls" and Neil Breen, you will surley enjoy this piece of confusing "mishmash" of a movie, with undeveloped bunch of pointless charecters, with unclear motives and charecteristics, strange editing, very aqward dialogues and the hair. Most of all I just don't get the hair. Just becaouse someone is Autistic or suffers from a developmental disability, doesn't mean he cuts his hair with a lawn mower. Who cares, the whole things is just super funny. Also funny: all the positive reviews here posted by sientologists.

Make sure you watch it with good friends and plenty od sarcasm.

The fanatic is one of the most dissapointing films in terms of his deliverance in the plot, the simplistic way that the movie progress is child-like and doesn't have any moments of credible tension or even a good finale if it's much to ask. Somehow the movie tends to be funny when focusing in the relationship between both Travolta and Sawa in sense that no character whatsoever is credible in their perfomance mostly because their reactions are very basic and don't give a meaningful flow to the story itself. being the story itself very bland and it doesn't have or neither gives a second lecture. Npnetheless the screenplay and edition were pretty decent but again the story itself it's a drag and only recomend watching it if you can find an ironic layer to it and have a laugh of what i just saw. On the other hand it's Fred durst so what can we expect? 1/10

It's hard to find words to describe The Fanatic, since everyone, who saw the movie already said everything that needed to be said about it. It's a very bizarre movie with so many things that are very weak or very bad and you can tell that no one didn't had any passion while making it. Every choice that they did was the wrong one. This is probably John Travolta's lowest point that he has been in his entire career and gives the worst performance that i've seen this year.

The story was so horribly written that i was questioning everything that was happening from the beginning to the end. The way John Travolta's character was written and portrayed in the movie was very bad and the character Hunter Dunbar was so rude throughout the whole movie he doesn't have a reason to treat the main character like that. Both characters do so many things that are very stupid and weird. The movie failed at almost everything and i had a hard time finding positives, but it was impossible and unfortunately it's one of the worst movies of the year.

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.

This movie may well outshine The Room in years to come. Amazing, in the worst kind of way.

That's all. Simply not possible to think this is anything but extremely awkward and amateur.

You just can't have a bad time watching this movie

Pulp Fiction helped resurrect John Travolta's flagging movie career in the 90's. This is the film that will surely drag him firmly back to straight-to-SyFy channel territory. A truly bad-natured film, The Fanatic has nothing good to say about anything, be it Hollywood, actors, people with mental health issues, even street performers and tourists. The role of Moose is woefully acted out by Travolta who manages to negate any sympathy his character could have garnered with his downright weirdness and unconvincing tics. The film plays out like a twisted, overlong version of Eminem's Stan video (indeed there is a connection). It doesn't know if it is meant to be scary or tragic, in the end it is neither, unless you are watching it as Travolta's agent.

Avoid it if you can or watch it if you are a big fan of train wrecks.

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?

I am amazed at how much Travolta's fans stick by him. Anyone who will seriously say that this was a good film watched it with Travolta tunnel vision. The acting is all over the place, one minute he's an autistic man, then a schizophrenic or a psychopath...wow talk about your triple diagnosis'. The entire story is laughable to the point where you're sure that it must have been intentionally comedic...but you'd be wrong, it's just a bad script and terrible acting. "Battlefeild Earth" has a new challenger for worse Travolta film.

Utterly Ridiculous. Laugh out loud funny. Like WTF?!

It's labeled as a thriller, but I find it hard to believe that this isn't a comedy. I just watched an interview with John Travolta about this movie. They were talking about how spooky and disturbing the movie is. John said. "We've never seen this story before...we've never seen these characters before." I don't even know what to say to that.

Smoke something strong and it's actually quite funny

Lots of higher scoring horror/thriller type movies released lately and they're all trash. This low scorer roped me in because of Fred Durst and John Travolta, a little slow to start but Travolta pulls off an almighty all out out crazy that's worth waiting for. Theres few hidden eggs and the line "she is not a good nurse" really tickled me. Give it a go it's actually alright. Better than a 4 - I'd of thought it to be a 5.5

After watching Redlettermedia´s review from Mike and jay(i wish Rich Evans gave his view) i had to watch this movie, and they where right about this being a crazy hilarious movie! John Travolta´s performance in this movie is what make this movie above average! The Fanatic had to be the best of the worst movie one day, and Travolta made me laugh many times by his crazy performance. And Fred Durst(the lead singer at Limp Bizkit) is co writer of this movie, and you can see it when they talk about limp bizkit so many times lol. Travolta act as a mentally challenged man, and i think John is the only one who lifted this movie to being watchful...

If you like a cheap comedy and crazy stuff, this movie is for you.. you will be lifted off you chair a couple of times, when you see Travoltas crazy stunt in it:) The absurdity and ridiculousness of Travoltas make this movie good in my view and without him, this movie is not worth renting.

John said it best"We've never seen this story before...we've never seen these characters before" well he is right about that!

Go watch the movie and enjoy it with a smile, but i doubt fred durst and John Travolta will join forces again...

Definitely awkward, quirky, and unsettling! I love John Travolta's performance especially that he stims; many parts I felt bad for him either way I'm happy with the result! I understand the hate The Fanatic got it has some cruel parts and the voice over annoyed people but I think the film deserves better. I also really enjoy the drawing pop ups.

I will elaborate on my review headline first. While this film doesn't have quite what it takes to score the term CLASSIC, it does have "cult fanbase" written all over it. It belongs in the cult-B section, which my all means, I'm still totally down with.

While you will probably find yourself laughing at Travolta's "performance", it is my opinion that it's not his acting that's laughable but rather the writing, the character itself, and your own disbelief that you seeing the legend in a role so far out from what we're all used to. But, his acting performance is locked in - some scenes it doesn't hit so hard, which is more so mostly due to ridiculous dialogue or scenarios, but, when the scene is right, and he is allowed to bring it, he really brings it. I did not expect to have any sort of legitimate emotional response to this movie, but much to my surprise, I found myself quite emotionally disrupted at a certain point - that's when this film elevated from a 6 to a 7 in my eyes. Durst, Travolta, and Sawa (the dream team?) managed to tug at my heart strings.

The movie is FULL of "questions"... some would call them plot-holes, but... isn't that what makes movies like this one so much fun? There is so much to analyze afterwards! I think the primary question is... why is Moose's best friend friends with him at all? The movie is also full of brimming overacting, the epitome of it really. Jacob Grodnik really takes the toxic to the furthest tier... he deserves some recognition. And, honestly, it's always great to see Devon Sawa - he really, truly gives an intense and believable delivery throughout this entire movie - he adds so much life and personality to it, it's wonderful.

On top of that, the movie is shot and edited quite tastefully!

The downsides... the movie could use "an ending", LOL. And though I enjoy a lot of the campy dialogue, a lot of it..."doesn't hit right". LOL. This movie requires suspension of disbelief and a desire to watch something that does not follow the rules of reality. If you can do that - it's quite fun! Much better than the reviews are giving it discredit for! Fans of B-movies, do not miss this!

I'd seen the score of 3.9, and read both glowing and damning reports before I watched this. I'd felt I had a lot of sympathy with reviewers who liked it, so I expected it to be decent. After half an hour I was still watching and still hopeful. There were some good parts and nothing unpleasant. By the time I got to the hour mark I just couldn't watch any more. It's not that the acting is so bad. I mean what can you do with a story as bad as this? None of the characters are sympathetic, and the Travolta one has to do so many different things how can you possibly turn it into a credible character? I don't think there's a single credible character in the movie. The real mystery is why any of them took the movie at all. So why 3. Well, it did keep me watching for half an hour, and some movies didn't make it that far.