# Napoleon Dynamite, instant cult classic in your peer group? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821 "2005-01-09T02:25:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/1 "2005-01-09T02:25:38Z")
We’ve all become total Napoleon geeks since the DVD was released. All day long on our local mb, we quote the movie and are endlessly entertained by it. I haven’t noticed much commentary about it on here, maybe I’ve missed it, or maybe my friends are just ubergeeks. Haha, nonetheless, “Make yerself a caysadilla.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/2 "2005-01-09T02:30:14Z")
I don’t think there is a huge overlap between the movie’s target audience and Dopers. I love the way the movie was funny without seeming to be trying extremely hard to be funny. Instant cult classic? Yeah, I’d say so. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/3 "2005-01-09T02:33:56Z")
Heck yes! ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/4 "2005-01-09T02:37:08Z")
You’re just jealous that I’ve been chatting online with babes all day. ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/5 "2005-01-09T02:42:14Z")
Vote for Pedro! He’s got skills. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/6 "2005-01-09T02:48:41Z")
heh I dunno. When it comes to Napoleon Dynamite, I am one of those people who hate myself everytime I laugh. But then I’m old. Gosh! ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/7 "2005-01-09T02:52:18Z")
In the past week or so I’ve seen the movie three times. It’s freaking hilarious, what do you think?! Just a few of the best lines/moments: o Napoleon’s line “I don’t feel very good.” His delivery - it sounds almost like a question - is perfect. o When he’s giving his current event speech, there is some snickering. He pauses and looks very slightly to the side with an annoyed look. o “Your mom goes to college.” o When Uncle Rico nails Napoleon with the steak, Kip says “That’s what I’m talking about.” It just seems so out of character. o Napoleon jumping over the fence. o “Yeah, hold on, I forgot to put in the crystals.” o At the very end, after Napoleon wins the tetherball game with Deb, he makes a victory gesture. It’s like…this is supposed to be some emotional moment as the two geeks come together, but dang it, he won tetherball and he’s darn proud! ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/8 "2005-01-09T04:04:37Z")
Hugely popular among my coworkers. But we do DSL support, so we’re geeks by definition. And since we’re in Utah, it’s set in the local (although rural) culture. Now, just imagine you’re weightless, in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by tiny little seahorses. ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/9 "2005-01-09T04:29:27Z")
…Maybe I will, GOSH! Watched this on New Year’s Day with some friends. We were ready to turn it off after 15 minutes. By the end of the movie, we were all convinced it was pretty good. An hour later we were incessantly quoting. Classic. Another favorite part was just the motion he had when slugging back that cranberry juice. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/10 "2005-01-09T04:32:37Z")
> [@](#): > > I love the way the movie was funny without seeming to be trying extremely hard to be funny. Instant cult classic? Yeah, I’d say so. I disagree completely. I think the movie is trying ridiculously hard to be funny and to set itself up as a cult film. That said, I think it will be something of a cult movie, although I’d be surprised if its following lasts as long as something like, say, Donnie Darko. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/11 "2005-01-09T04:33:19Z")
I dunno, I just found it kind of painful to watch. Possibly because I grew up a geek in a very rural town. I recognized ALL of those characters. I went to school with some, was taught (!) by others. It was familiar in the way that the smell of the stuff they sprinkle on vomit is familiar. It brings up memories you didn’t necessarily want. In conjuring up what it was like to live there, it was astonishingly and annoyingly successful. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/12 "2005-01-09T04:47:50Z")
I found the movie astoundingly overrated. I agree with shy guy; it was TRYING to be a cult film, and ended up being a collection of caricatures rather than characters, going through the motions of a cult film. I recognized all the characters and references, but it was as if they were all jammed in there and everything else was an afterthought. It wasn’t BAD, but the wild praise for it isn’t merited, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/13 "2005-01-09T04:49:52Z")
Even the “extreme right Xtian freaks” love this movie. [http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE\_ID=42263](http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42263) ---
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/14 "2005-01-09T05:05:38Z")
I know a couple people that hate it, but for the most part yeah, it was an instant favorite of most of my friends too. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/15 "2005-01-09T05:33:07Z")
Yup, instant classic to my friends who have seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/16 "2005-01-09T05:43:39Z")
Yeah, instant cult classic for us, too. The absolute best excahnge in the movie: NAPOLEON: This is pretty much the worst video ever made. KIP: Napoleon, like anyone can even know that. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/17 "2005-01-09T05:50:56Z")
Four of my co-workers and I went to go see this in the theater and couldn’t stop quoting it for hours afterward. Two days later, we had a pretty intense staff meeting, discussing a new project, and at the end our director asked us somewhat rhetorically, “Soooo, what’s everyone gonna do today?” Without missing a beat, three of us yelled “Whatever I feel like! Gosh!” It was an absolutely. Glorious. Moment. My favorite line: “Tina, you fat lard, come eat your dinner!” Happy ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/18 "2005-01-09T07:35:31Z")
“Why don’t you go eat a decroded piece of crap” ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/19 "2005-01-09T11:23:38Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > We’ve all become total Napoleon geeks since the DVD was released. All day long on our local mb, we quote the movie and are endlessly entertained by it. I haven’t noticed much commentary about it on here, maybe I’ve missed it, or maybe my friends are just ubergeeks. Haha, nonetheless, “Make yerself a caysadilla.” 😃 Just watched this last night - loved it. My favorite scene - well, the cow & the schoolbus - bwah! VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821/20 "2005-01-09T14:58:11Z")
Who wants to eat chimney-changas next year? Not me!!! My sister pointed out that my inflection when talking to my parents “GOD!!! WHATever I WANT to DO!” is the same as Napoleon’s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-dynamite-instant-cult-classic-in-your-peer-group/283821.md?page=2)