NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (2004)
Tagline: It's Gonna Be a Dynamite Summer
(Comedy, Drama, Family) [PG]
I'm Rex, founder of the Rex Kwan Do self-defense system! After one week with me in my dojo, you'll be prepared to defend yourself with the STRENGTH of a grizzly, the reflexes of a PUMA, and the wisdom of a man.
This movie is essentially about almost nothing. No big event is coming up, nothing mind-blowing or life-altering is going on. No one is going to save the world or get killed. What is going to happen is a kid named Napoleon Dynamite (played by Jon Heder) is going to be left with his brother Kip (played by Aaron Ruell) for a few days because their aunt is going into the desert to have fun riding around on dune buggies. Napoleon’s uncle Rico (played by Jon Gries from MEN IN BLACK and THE SASQUATCH GANG) shows up to kind of help out a bit but ends up making Napoleon’s life a bit miserable. Napoleon also meets a new friend named Pedro (played by Efren Ramirez) who might be able to help him pick up chicks. Napoleon also discovers he may have feelings for Deb (played by Tina Majorino who was the little girl in WATERWORLD). Okay…so I guess the movie isn’t actually about almost nothing. It looks like we have a bit of a story here.
I remember distinctly the first person that told me about this movie when it came out. He was so into it, I thought it had some sort of cosmic power over him. He talked about it for months. I am not even sure he’s from Idaho where the film takes place. I will say that for me, it took several times of watching this movie in order to appreciate it. Now it’s pretty much on a once every 2 years or so watch rotation.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE is as quirky as heck and I can see why some movie fans never got into it. Like I said in the description there is a bit of a story there, but the movie does count heavily on its audience at least identifying with several of the characters, or at the very least Napoleon himself. Maybe not the mannerisms, but that feeling of trying to be yourself and overcoming being or feeling awkward.
One character that stands out as both funny and awesome is Rex played by Diedrich Bader. Diedrich is also known for playing the laid-back neighbor in OFFICE SPACE. Haylie Duff known for ADDAMS FAMILY REUNION plays one of the main girls Pedro is interested in at first. She’s the older sister of Hilary Duff. Overall the acting for me didn’t stand out as being great, but it probably was exactly what director Jared Hess was going for. Both THE SASQUATCH GANG and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE have their moments where the humor comes across as more mean or weird than funny but both for me are endearing and heartwarming. I think NAPOLEON DYNAMITE is probably the better overall movie, but both are worth checking out.
Overall I have to give NAPOLEON DYNAMITE a 5 out of 7. There are a few things I would have left out, but overall it’s pretty freakin great.
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