NAPOLEON DYNAMITE

By: B -- 7/2004

Napoleon Dynamite is an indie film profiling a few months in the life of Napoleon, an unattractive teenage nerd with moon boots and frazzled, curly hair. Set sometime in the past few years, somewhere in Idaho, Napoleon (Jon Heder) is living with his grandmother and stuck in time, a time with big glasses and elastic waistbands, side ponytails and high-waisted jeans. Napoleon Dynamite tells a slice of life story of the awkward teenage years in a backwards southern town, with the impatient but kind-hearted geek Napoleon as the focal point.

Napoleon dedicates most of his time to playing tetherball (against himself) during recess or feeding his grandmother's pet llama. When his grandmother goes to the hospital, his uncle Rico temporarily moves in and starts up money-making schemes with older brother Kip. Napoleon finally makes a friend at school, Pedro, and meets a girl, Deb. With just a few characters and a simplistic plot, we watch as Napoleon tries to make the best out of the unpleasant hand dealt to him, helping his friends and trying to deal with his annoying uncle.

The quality of acting in this film, good or bad, is inconsequential. Heder is hilarious as the loner Napoleon, but is most likely doing a goofy impersonation rather than actual acting. He isn't required to show any emotion besides his ever-present annoyance at everyone, but still naturally slides into his role. The rest of the actors are subdued, rarely showing emotion. One can never tell if these actors are terrible, or just playing such quirky, emotionless characters they require little to no reaction. Either way, the acting is humorous all the way through; the characters squeeze laughs out of the most simplistic actions.

Director Jared Hess creates a distinct world with Napoleon Dynamite. It's an airy, quiet film, with no wasted words and no evident attempts to wrangle any emotions out of the viewers. It's shot with the same realism as a documentary, but the subject matter and story line are too satirical to be taken seriously. No matter how ridiculous the story line, we end up caring about Napoleon because he means well. With what was obviously a sparse screenplay devoid of any formula, director Hess deftly builds a unique mood with an engaging story line.

Napoleon Dynamite emerges as a simple, enjoyable indie flick, suitable for all types of movie-goers. It is for the most part original, most likely playing off the postmodern humor created in Wes Anderson films (i.e. Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums). Rather than punch lines, most laughs arise from awkward silences, random sentences (“I caught you a delicious bass”) and unexpected scene cuts. The story is too simplistic for this film to really shine, but it does succeed in entertaining the viewers. Better than most movies at the multiplex, standard indie fare, Napoleon Dynamite is, at the very least, a swell rental.

POP RATING: 7

CRITICAL RATING: 7

B'S RATING: 7

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