Short Film Review – “George Lucas In Love”

It’s a short film, but it’s being reviewed under the
“movie” criteria, because it’s a single,
self-contained story with the same technical aspects
as a movie.

Cast, Crew, and Other Info

Martin Hynes as
George
Lisa
Jakub as Marion

Written by Joe Nussbaum,
Timothy Dowling, and
Daniel Shere
Directed by Joe Nussbaum

Complete
information is available from the
IMDB
.

This
DVD release

includes no alternative languages, but it does have
three other
shorts. (“Evil Hill” in unwatchable, in my opinion.
I haven’t tried
“Film Club” or “Swing Blade.”) It also promotes MediaTrip.com
rather heavily.
It’s also got a “Pop-Up Video” style feature, and
director
commentary.

Past movie reviews can be found here.

Premise

George Lucas, a film student, is struggling with a
script about a
space farmer dozens of years ago in a nearby galaxy.
Then, he meets
his muse. (It’s a parody of Shakespeare in
Love
using George
Lucas instead of William Shakespeare.)

High Point

“Could you talk, kinda, forwards?”

Low Point

The R2-D2 character. The whistles and clicks just
didn’t work.
Either set him up whistling at something that should
be whistled at,
or keep him silent, as the visual gag works. The
sound effects there
are the only joke in the whole short that doesn’t
work, in my
opinion.

The Scores

There’s a limit to how original any parody
can get, as it’s
based on existing material. However, this gets a lot
of credit for
the amount of material packed into a film less than
10 minutes long,
particularly since so much of it seems to fit in so
naturally. I give
it 4 out of 6.

The effects were, frankly, extremely
limited. This is of
definite geek interest, but it’s not set in any sort
of science
fiction or fantasy world. The did get the steam well
done in the
scene by the tree, which is about the only effect
they had to do, so
they get 5 out of 6.

The story is very tightly written. They
kept it short enough
to keep the concept from getting tired, and yet still
filled it with
great references and inside jokes every few seconds.
They even have a
couple of moments that are funny on their own,
completely unrelated to
any of George Lucas’ work. The low point is my only
complaint. I
give it 5 out of 6.

The acting is fairly well done. Lisa Jakub
does some
noticably good work here. (You might recognize her
from
Independence Day or Matinee, the
latter of which is
a very good movie.) Martin Hynes is also totally
believable. The
other actors, such as the professor, are only there
for brief,
one-note scenes, but that’s to be expected in this
length. Very well
played all around. I give it 6 out of 6.

The emotional response is as great as the
rest of this short.
If you’re at all familiar with the Star Wars
films, you’ll
laugh. (My mother has seen episodes 4 through 6
exactly once each,
all in the original theatrical releases, because I
made her take me
when I was a kid, and she’s never seen episodes 1 or
2. She laughed
out loud from start to finish in this one.) In fact,
I’ve never shown
this to anyone who didn’t laugh out loud at least
five times, and
usually more. I give it 6 out of 6.

The production team is extremely familiar
with the Star
Wars
movies and Shakespeare in Love.
The transitional
wipes, stolen from Kurasawa by Lucas, are reproduced
here extremely
well. The camera movements match what you see in
Shakespeare in
Love
during the equivalent scenes. The scene
with the professor
is perfectly done, with the right vegetation and
lighting. The
costuming produces exactly the right effect. I’ve
seen this at least
half a dozen times (including three consecutive
viewings when I first
bought it) and I’m still amazed at how well it was
put together.
(Lucas and Spielberg were impressed, too. Spielberg
hired Nussbaum to
work for Dreamworks SKG after he caught some of his
sound guys
watching it, and he sent a copy along to Lucas.) I
give it 6 out of
6.

Overall, this is an excellent short film.
If you’ve ever
seen a Star Wars movie, track this down.
It’s one of the
funniest films I’ve ever seen, of any length. I give
it 6 out of 6 –
recommended without reservation.

In total, George Lucas In Love receives 38
out of 42.