Rating: ****
Review Date: 6/23/00
Director: Joe Nussbaum
Cast: Martin Hynes, Lisa Jakub
It's rare for me to watch short films, but this one is definitely worth mentioning. This is a brilliant parody of "Shakespeare In Love" focussing on George Lucas's writer's block while trying to write the script for "Star Wars" (1977). He finally finds inspiration in a woman, and she unlocks his creative genius by making him take notice of his surroundings. Martin Hynes does an incredible job of portraying George Lucas as a college student, and Lisa Jakub gives a heartfelt performance as his biggest fan. The writing is intelligent and very clever, but not pretentious or alienating like most referential parodies tend to be. This film never makes the effort to point out how clever and witty it is, and I appreciate that. At nine minutes in length, it managed to make me both laugh and cry, which is a pretty remarkable feat these days. Great stuff!