Napoleon Dynamite

Released 2004
Stars Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Tina Majorino, Haylie Duff
Directed by Jared Hess

This indie favorite follows Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder), a quirky, ninja-loving teenager growing up in the far reaches of Idaho. Napoleon's life gets complicated when his shady Uncle Rico (John Gries) shows up, a shy girl (Tina Majorino) starts showing him some attention and his best friend Pedro (Efren Ramirez) decides to run for school president. Nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004.

Summary by www.netflix.com

This movie hooked me right from the get-go with its creative title sequence featuring one of my favorite songs, "We're going to be friends" by the White Stripes. I think I watched that sequence five times, but I'm not sure why this little indie movie became such a massive hit. Napoleon is such an unlikable character that it's hard to understand why he struck a nerve. The other characters are more likeable, but they're still losers. I assume kids laughed at the characters in a condescending manner, but I'm not exactly sure why I was laughing. It was uncomfortable laughter out of disbelief with the characters and the situations, but it was laughter all the same. I think it worked because of the film's dryness and understated tone. The funniest part, however, was when I listened to some of the commentary and kept hearing how different sequences or details were based on the writers' experiences. I looked at things a little differently when I watched it a second time with my kids.

I have to say this movie is remarkable in the fact that there's no profanity (the worst word is "frickin") and no sexual content. Uncle Rico hawks a bust enhancer, but it's not racy. I was pretty surprised, and I decided to let my kids (10 and 8) watch it. A lot of their friends had seen it already, and they wanted to see what it was all about. They enjoyed it on their level, which was to laugh at nerdy behavior. Not "fun" nerdy, but the type of nerds who are dumb and have no skills to speak of. Napoleon is into D&D, lies about martial arts, is a spaz when it comes to sports, and he's the kind of kid who will find life doesn't have much to offer. I think a movie like this probably speaks to people like that in a way a Hollywood fantasy like "Revenge of the Nerds" doesn't. That's probably more of a positive thing than one might think, and it's more sympathetic toward the characters than it first seems.

I was happy the writers didn't end with the obligatory speech. Napoleon does get his moment onstage, but it comes in a Solid Gold dance routine that he performs in an effort to help his friend. So there's a little bit of social growth there, and the movie was smart enough to have him run off stage before the ovation. It's fun when small, personal movies become major hits, because it's a thumb to the eye of the major studios and their cookie-cutter process. All I can say to the people involved with this movie and its success is luckeeeee!! --Bill Alward, February 13, 2005