Happy Jawa - American Jedi

American Jedi

2000 / 8m 30s
director: Adam Schwartz
features: Aaron Michael Sherry

home | film
rating: Hubba
category: parody
warning: language, sexual situations

I always said those Jedis needed to be loosened up. In American Jedi you can see a teenage Obi Wan Kenobi get very loose. Even footloose.

This is a wonderful send-up of all teenage high school sex comedies and, by inserting this straight laced Jedi character, it also pokes fun at the legendary woodenness of George Lucas' characters.

Wisely, director Adam Schwartz chose to format American Jedi as a faux trailer for a much larger film. Trailers often contain the best parts of the larger film anyway and, to tell the truth, I probably wouldn't go see a full length version of American Jedi. The preview taps out most the possible humor and then some. At eight and a half minutes American Jedi runs a little long. It could probably have been tightened up a bit and been just as enjoyable. Somewhere around six minutes I was checking the timer, a sure sign it was wearing thin.

But it's still a solid film. The lacrosse duel scene is a classic as is Obi Wan's attempt to seduce classmates with his Jedi mind tricks. Aaron Michael Sherry is terrific as young Obi Wan and brings the same smirky cockiness to the role that Ewan McGregor did. He even nails the accent.

There are some production issues that I could be picky about, like an in-shot lamp and electrical outlet that distracts from what is supposed to be an other-worldy scene, but overall this is a very enjoyable spoof.

Lars Lee

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