George Lucas in Love

Starring:Amy Claire, Timothy Dowling, Martin Hynes, Lisa Jakub, Jeremy Jones (VI), Patrick Kerr, John Rafter Lee, Ben Livingston, Marilyn McIntyre, Garen Michaels, Jason Peck, Jeff Statzer, Jeff Wiens, David Young IV
Studio: Red Hill
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A hilarious and affectionate parody of both the Star Wars films and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love, George Lucas in Love provides more wit and intelligence in eight minutes that most full-length feature films do in 90. It's 1967, and George Lucas (Martin Hynes) is only three days from graduating from film school. The "agricultural space tragedy" he's been working on isn't going well at all. Taunted by his asthmatic rival (who wears a black cape), flummoxed by his adviser (who speaks in backwards sentences), he's at wit's end, until inspiration arrives in the form of the comely Marion (Lisa Jakub), the leader of the student campus rebellion who sports a distinctly familiar hairdo featuring twin buns. Funny without being too in-jokey, and clever but never full of itself, George Lucas in Love is a perfect example of the short film parody: it never wears out its welcome. Can't catch all the references? A fun-filled enhanced version of the short, like a Pop-Up Video, points out all the allusions along with facts about the making of the short, and a 10-minute, behind-the-scenes feature details the creative process from inception to the success the film received upon its release.

Amazon.com

A hilarious and affectionate parody of both the Star Wars films and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love, George Lucas in Love provides more wit and intelligence in eight minutes that most full-length feature films do in 90. It's 1967, and George Lucas (Martin Hynes) is only three days from graduating from film school. The "agricultural space tragedy" he's been working on isn't going well at all. Taunted by his asthmatic rival (who wears a black cape), flummoxed by his adviser (who speaks in backwards sentences), he's at wit's end, until inspiration arrives in the form of the comely Marion (Lisa Jakub), the leader of the student campus rebellion who sports a distinctly familiar hairdo featuring twin buns. Funny without being too in-jokey, and clever but never full of itself, George Lucas in Love is a perfect example of the short film parody: it never wears out its welcome. Can't catch all the references? A fun-filled enhanced version of the short, like a Pop-Up Video, points out all the allusions along with facts about the making of the short, and a 10-minute, behind-the-scenes feature details the creative process from inception to the success the film received upon its release.

Included on the DVD are three additional short parodies--Swing Blade (which the makers of George Lucas in Love cite as their inspiration), Film Club, and Evil Hill. Swing Blade is a blissfully short, truly inspired melding of Sling Blade and Swingers, with a Billy Bob Thornton look-alike trying to make it on the L.A. singles scene, and Film Club is a goofy take on Fight Club, but with independent filmmaking taking the place of bare-knuckle brawling ("I want you to shoot me, and make sure you give me lots of head room."). Only Evil Hill, which purports to tell you how Dr. Evil of Austin Powers became truly evil, loses its momentum in its 10-plus minutes, as it attempts to mix Austin Powers references with both Notting Hill and the Marilyn Monroe mythos. Sometimes imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

Not even a mild infatuation.......2005-10-17

To be honest, in spite of my Star Wars fandom I was never really motivated to see this short when it first came out, either in theaters, on video, on DVD, or on cable. The main reason for this was because I'd yet to encounter a Star Wars satirical short that was actually funny, and I figured this would be no different. I guess you could say I had a bad feeling about this mini-movie (heh). And when I finally got around to sittin' down and watchin' "George Lucas in Love", I found that for, the most part, my suspicions were spot on . It didn't help that the various supporting characters who became "inspirations" for our favorite struggling film school student were uncomfortable to watch and listen to. Especially obnoxious was "proto-Yoda", the cryptic backwards-talking screenwriting professor. The guy sounded like he'd just been given a lightsaber suppository! And "proto-Vader"-a black-clad rival film school student with asthma-played the "cartoonishly over-the-top bad guy" bit a little TOO over-the-top. And don't even get me started on "proto-Threepio" and "proto-Artoo"; I rolled my eyes in utter embarrassment after witnessing this part! "Proto-Jabba" was kinda amusin', though...

Fortunately, "GLiL" did have one saving grace: the ending, which featured our hero consummating his romance with "proto-Leia"... well, almost. It was a scene I half-expected would end the way it eventually did... just like the way "The Sixth Sense" ended. The final twist helped make it the funniest moment of the entire short by far, with the second-funniest moment occurring in the middle of the closing credits. Sadly, these two bits were hardly worth the nonsense I hadda endure to get to them. Eh, no biggie; what's ten more minutes of my life I'll never get back?

Bottom line: if you wanna watch a satiric Star Wars-related short film that's actually funny, forget about this... er, forgettable waste of celluloid, and check out Film Threat's "F! True Hollywood Story: Jar Jar Binks" (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000B12NR) instead. Now, THASSA no bombad!

`Late

What is everyone talking about????.......2005-07-10

The people reviewing this and calling it hilarious and great must not get out much. I found this movie weird, cheesy, a bit clever in idea, but not funny at all. I don't know how it even got distributed. I have a great sense of humor, but this movie is not anything I'd like to watch over and over. If you're going to parody "Star Wars" stuff, "Hardware Wars" is better and funnier. The only reason I'll give it 2 stars is for the funny expression on the actor's face that plays Lucas. Other than that, it's not much.

Very funny.......2005-03-23

This video is a very funny send-up of George Lucas and his films. Just long enough to keep you wanting more, and just short enough to keep from getting boring. The sight gags are fast and furious in the story of Lucas writing Star Wars as a term project in college. The other movies on the disk are OK, and not as funny.

This should be proton-torpedoed out of existence........2004-02-20

Let me first say that I certainly wouldn't buy it. I'm not a die-hard star wars fan, I'm more of the "big-fan-but-wouldn't-dress-up-as-a-SW-character" type.

Secondly, I wouldn't actually call this a movie. It's more of a string of scenes, each containing one or more rather lame Star Wars "innuendos". After it finished (all nine minutes of it), it left me asking : "So the point of that was what, exactly ?".

The sheer cheesiness of it all is extremely off-putting and kills any entertainment value it might otherwise have had quicker than a lightsaber through the heart. Forget the cheesiness of "Scary Movie"- that was forgivable because it was genuinely funny; this isn't even slightly so.

There is just one thing I can say about this collection to it's credit : It avoided the "I am your father", "Nooooo !" cliche (but only just). I swear, if I hear that one once more I'm going to go and bay at the moon.

The funniest 8 minute short ever!.......2004-01-07

"George Lucas in Love" is the funniest eight minute short movie that I have ever seen. What if George Lucas, the creator of the "Star Wars" movies, had a muse, like "Shakespeare in Love" suggests that the Bard did? Well, imagine George Lucas living in a dorm at USC, struggling to create a short picture. And then the fun begins. This short is laden with layer after layer of inside jokes. I've watched it over a dozen times, and each time I see another joke that I missed before.

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