This film seems to be one of the biggest sleeper hits in recent years. Lots of people rave about it. There’s all kinds of cheeseball ND merchandise.
I have looked at the case a number of times. I have seen some video clips. I have read reviews. Frankly, it sounds godawful to me, and I have no genuine interest in watching it. I have considered renting it, for no other reason than to see what all the hype is about. However, I don’t want to waste an hour and twenty six minutes of my time on something I have virtually no interest in.
Disclaimer to hardcore ND fans:
I’m not saying ND sucks. I haven’t watched it, so I can’t make that judgment. It just doesn’t seem interesting to me. If I do break down and watch it, I’m not sure that I will “get” it.
Nothing, really. I rented it because a co-worker raved about it, but it didn’t do anything for me. All I got out of it was that the kid was a total spaz. And the funniest scene was deleted from the movie anyway! I think it’s a lot like many of the cult films - lots of people may love them, but they’re not for everyone. You can probably safely wait until they show it on TV if you think you have to catch it.
SpouseO and I do get a lot of mileage out of “Gosh!”, however.
Excellent thread timing - I just watched ND for the first time yesterday. It was a fun little movie, if a bit overlong. I liked the similarly-styled Rushmore better.
the commercials made me not want to see it, but then a friend gave it a rave review. saw it in the theater and thought it was ok, but then i saw it again and really started to enjoy it.
I think it’s one of those movies that you either love or hate. Personally, I love it, but I know people who hated it.
As for why I like it: it’s fun. It’s different. It made me laugh. A lot of people I know who hate it think the title character is a total jerk and a loser. To me, Napoleon being a loser is what makes it so funny. YMMV.
Oh, and I love it when my husband sings “I Love Technology,” Kip & LaFawnduh’s wedding song, to me. swoon
If you do watch it (and you should), do NOT turn it off after the first 10 minutes. I can’t tell you how many people I talked to that just turned it off after 10 minutes. I was tempted to. However, it just takes some time for the movie to get started.
That being said, you may not “get” the movie. ND’s mannerisms, speech patterns, and social ineptitude are just funny.
Oh no. I just realized that my last post contains what could be considered a spoiler. Idiot!
Could someone report it for me, or would a mod be kind enough to fix it? Thanks!
It’s one of those things with kinda wide appeal, which makes people think it must be excellent, so they’re disappointed when they see it. I didn’t find it extraordinarily good, but worth watching. As CapnPitt points out, ND’s mannerisms are pretty funny to a lot of people. But not everybody.
After being in the same boat as the OP for the past year, I broke down and watched it. The biggest surprise to me was that it just wasn’t a funny movie, in spite of all of the quotables that you hear people repeating; I’d go as far as to say its’ not a comedy film.
I’m very into a lot of the films/filmmakers that the movie seems to be patterened after - most notably Todd Solondz’ Welcome to the Dollhouse, but the movie falls way short of even being a derivative of one of those.
I’m just honestly surprised at the widespread popularity - it’s not a funny movie.
I DESPISED Welcome To the Dollhouse (way too uncomfortable, sadistic, ugly, and just plain not funny), but I can see how it was an influence on Napoleon Dynamite (which I didn’t care for, but didn’t hate like I hated Dollhouse and Solondz’s other movie, Happiness).
I like ND, a lot. But I wouldn’t say it was the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. I think I appreciate it because the characters just ring so true for me. Maybe it’s a small, isolated town thing. Maybe it’s a nerd thing. But I’ve known people and place much like those depicted in ND throughout my life. I guess the movie struck a chord with me for that reason.
I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it much, either. Seemed like there were no verbs in the script. It was a showcase for these characters, and they were good characters, but they really didn’t have anything to do, and so there just wasn’t much to the movie.
ND is part of a genre of films that I call “A Day in the Life of a Depressed Pathetic Loser” films.
Stylistically, these films have a number similar characteristics:
-The main characters are generally unappealing and feel a strong disconnect with society
-They are usually cliniquely depressed, deeply unfullfilled or just utterly bizarre
-They are unable to influence their environment
-There is a relatively small cast consisting of the main characters few close acquaintances and antagonists.
-Their world is generally empty - the vast cornfields of Iowa or wherever the hell ND takes place, the suburban wasteland of Ghost World, the starkly bland corporate environments of Office Space or Clockwatchers
-Sometimes the story is told through the characters inner monologue
-There is no “point” to most of the story. Basically it’s just 2 hours of them dealing with various issues and interactions in their life.
-Eventually they reach some epiphany that marks some change in their life and the story ends. Often there is no change and they simply come full circle.
Examples of such movies:
Napolean Dynamite
Sideways
Garden State
Ghost World
Office Space
Clockwatchers
Haiku Tunnel
Slums of Beverly Hills
Fight Club
These stories have such appeal because unlike your basic Tom Cruise Jerry Bruckheimer movie, we can relate aspects of our lives and problems to the characters and story. Our office experience is not fighting terrorists in our bare feet. It’s dealing with mind numbing bordum and stupid management. Most people’s high school experience is not wild OC parties. It’s hanging with a small group of close friends trying to figure out what to do with yourself.
Anyhow that’s my little thesis on that.
I liked that it didn’t seem to be the classic “nerd makes good” movie. Napolean didn’t have any special hidden attributes just waiting to come out with the right impetus. He’s just a geek, like the guys you knew in school, or like the guy you were. By the end of the movie, he’s still the same Napolean, although having grown like most of us do.
And, yeah, there’s some catch phrases and scenes that just seem to attach to your brain: Throwing the orange at Uncle Rico, the time machine, “Here’s your ham, Tina!”
It’s not a great movie, at least to me. It’s just insidious, I guess.
It’s a loving portrait of major social disfunction.
Not many movies have the courage to walk that deep into the dork forest. In most movies nerdy characters are minor comic relief. We’re not asked to identify with them. They’re there on the sidelines, being annoying or helping out the hero in some minor way.
In ND the dorkiness is totally in your face. And it’s not a cheap Hollywood wink-nudge-don’t-really-mean-it sort of dorkiness either. Napolean and his friends and family are so unrelentingly nerdy that it’s squirm inducing.
And yet, the movie demands that we take them seriously as human beings and root for them to succeed. And magically, they do.
It’s funny, yeah. But it’s not really a comedy. The laughs aren’t of the “haw, haw look at the stupid dork screwing up” type. They’re more laughs of recognition at seeing our own dorkiness distilled into a sympathetic character.
ND is character driven movie about life in a small town America. If my parents hadn’t moved me out of Montana. I would have been Napoleon.
The thing that is great about ND is there is nothing DARK about it. You get a creepy vibe off Uncle Rico at one point but it is quickly and comicly diffused.
What’s this movie rated? PG? It’s a welcome departure from the cookie cutter gross out comedies that were steadily coming out.
I’m sorry VCO3, I have to question your ability to see humor if you don’t think ND is a comedy. You don’t have to necessaily think it is funny… but it is a Comedy. I don’t think Everybody Loves Raymond is funny at all- but I understand it is a Comedy.