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Napoleon Dynamite - 6/11/04 - PG - 82m
Jon Heder - Napoleon Dynamite
Jon Gries - Uncle Rico
Efren Ramirez - Pedro
Director: Jared Hess
Written by: Jared Hess & Jerusha Hess
Studio: Fox Searchlight
Official
Website
JEF
This movie is going to be difficult for me to review. I had high hopes for this going into the movie. I knew very little about the storyline, but it had that look about it that this could be one of those gems that gets overlooked.
My first “uh-oh” occurred right at the very beginning when I saw that this movie was an Mtv production…
Storyline: Basically we meet this character Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) who is a high school nerd/geek. We meet his family, and his friends and get a glimpse of his life in Idaho.
One of the reasons this is a difficult film for me to review is that it was a strange experience in the theatre. I knew this was supposed to be a comedy, so I was prepared for that. But what I was not prepared for was the audience’s reaction… Not even 30 seconds into the film, several of the audience members started laughing hysterically. For example, Napoleon leaves his house and gets on the school bus. This had some people in stitches!? I didn’t get it! What was so funny about this scene? Yeah he looked a little goofy, or quirky, but he wasn’t doing anything “funny”. Then I realized that perhaps these select few in the audience were laughing AT this character not with him – which bothered me. The same way a kid is laughed at or teased in real life because he looks or acts different. This has always bothered me. So this kinda set the mood for the rest of the film. I was going back and forth with confusion, and anger at what these people were laughing at. I kept wondering what was I missing, which was also frustrating me.
I had chuckled a few times at some of the things going on. Some the strange characters, some of the unusual scenarios (Like Napoleon feeding his grandmother’s pet lama). But I was not laughing anywhere near like others were.
I was pretty much hating the movie about half way through. Then all of a sudden, about 3/4 of the way through it hit me… I was involved in this film. In spite of the distractions and frustrations around me, I found myself caring about these people. I wanted to vote for Pedro (Efren Ramirez) for president! I wanted to smack Uncle Rico (Jon Gries*). I was rooting for Napoleon. And that’s when it hit me… I think this was a good film!
I was so distracted by the audience around me that I lost focus on the film. But when I realized that I was being sucked into the storyline I realized it takes a good film to do something like that. After the film was over, Lyn and I were talking about it, and I started to like the movie even more. I even found myself thinking about the movie the next day or two later.
So for a movie that I hated for most of the time while sitting there, I’m giving this a yellow light. It is difficult for me to fully recommend this film to everyone. If you’ve ever been picked on while ridding the bus or drawn pictures on notebook paper of mythical figures or perhaps befriended a person in your class who was picked on by all the other kids you may enjoy this film. If you like to laugh at quirky characters, you may love this film. But try not to let the audience influence you, and give the film a chance. My best advice… rent this on DVD when it’s released. This could turn into an underground hit that gets quoted a lot.
“You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff.”
- Napoleon Dynamite
Jef
PS> It was driving me crazy who Jon Gries was (who played the part of slimy Uncle Rico)… He played the part of Lazlo in “Real Genius” one of my all-time favorite movies
