Please explain Napoleon Dynamite to me

Cafe Society
21

[QUOTE=Hampshire]
I’m was a big fan of the movie when it was initially released and saw it on opening day with a crowd of 10 people. But yes, it’s popularity, constant quoting, and merchandising barrage has grown tedious.

The thing I liked about it was that it took the John Hughes “teen movie” concept and turned it on it’s head. Instead of seeing the Hollywood stereotype teen characters (uber-asshole jock, nerds who are really smart and really funny, uber-hot heroines, etc.) we saw real life characters who dreamed of becoming these Hollwood stereotypes or already thought they were in their own minds.

The “funny” was the characters trying to deliver what they thought were clever, cool, witty, appropriate lines and watching them come off flatley like they would in real life.
Napoleon’s attempts to be macho are met with a :rolleyes: or “huh?” by other characters. Same with Uncle Rico and Kip. They all attempt at one time or another to have a “watch this” moment and you laugh at the outcome.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with you here, but the genius of the film is that its creators realized that even the idea of turning a John Hughes movie on its head with realism would become a “convention” before the film was over, and so they had fun turning their newly-minted “convention” on ITS head before the credits rolled, subverting their subervion, if you will.

for instance, there was no earthly reason to think that Kip would end up with his love, but he does.

Also, everything in the film so far led us to believe that after Napoleon’s spastic “Vote for Pedro” dance, he would get his nasty and undeserved come-uppance from the “popular” kids, and perhaps experience growth of some sort, but NO! Everyone applauds!

In fact, I think that’s the ultimate key to the appeal of the movie. These pathetic nerds seem to have no idea how pathetic they are, and given that the movie makes no bones about them being unappealing losers who imagine that they know everything, it then, instead of having the characters experience change and growth, changes the world around them, however illogically, in order to eliminate the necessity of them changing and growing.

My wife and I loved the hell out of it.

22

[QUOTE=lovelybean]
Forgot to mention.
I also love the crazy way they played with time: is it the 80s? Is it today? You can never be quite sure. And I guess since I was in high school in the 80s, the conglomeration of the two felt oddly comforting.
[/QUOTE]

Since they had the internet, I guess it had to be more or less present day relative to when the movie came out. It’s just that small towns like that always feel like they’re about ten years behind the times.

As to the question on the bus. I think there was suggestion that kids at Napolean’s school liked asking him those kinds of questions just because they knew he was apt to say something weird – like when they were asking him about his summer vacation and he was making up a story about hunting wolverines with a 12-gauge. They just like to eff with him.

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If you enjoy this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing you’ll enjoy. I probably like some things you think are pointless, too.

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It was quirky. If you like this type of movie there are tons of them on the Sundance Channel. I don’t think there was anything necessarily to “get”. They’re just odd, offbeat characters. I thought it was pretty good.

25

[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
Since they had the internet, I guess it had to be more or less present day relative to when the movie came out.
[/QUOTE]

Nope. They said they were paying by the minute and he was running up the bill in chatrooms. Also, that girl’s hairstyle.

26

Two things that score for me are as follows:

  1. Not one big name star (at the time of filming) appears but each actor hits his / her notes perfectly. I know that they used ordinary teenage schmos as the extras but that’s irrelevant. Name me another movie that stars actors who are not only off the radar but never once even registered a blip. (I did find out later that Uncle Rico is the weird closet roommate from Real Genius and he appears twice as a homeless bum on Seinfeld. Either way- not the stuff of the Hollywood A-list.) The fact that there isn’t the annoying-cameo-just-for-the-sake-of-having-a-famous-person-appear and that alone puts ND in a class by itself.

  2. The other thing that separates ND from every other comedy made today is that there isn’t one instance of gross-out humor or an over-the-top episode of wacky violence nor -to my knowledge- one crude attempt at humor or even one profane utterance. Name me another comedy from today’s films that can claim that distinction -cartoons not included.

That’s what separates Napoleon Dynamite from the pack.

27

[QUOTE=minlokwat]

  1. The other thing that separates ND from every other comedy made today is that there isn’t one instance of gross-out humor or an over-the-top episode of wacky violence
    [/QUOTE]

Um, except for the cow…

28

[QUOTE=minlokwat]

  1. Not one big name star (at the time of filming) appears but each actor hits his / her notes perfectly. I know that they used ordinary teenage schmos as the extras but that’s irrelevant. Name me another movie that stars actors who are not only off the radar but never once even registered a blip. (I did find out later that Uncle Rico is the weird closet roommate from Real Genius and he appears twice as a homeless bum on Seinfeld. Either way- not the stuff of the Hollywood A-list.) The fact that there isn’t the annoying-cameo-just-for-the-sake-of-having-a-famous-person-appear and that alone puts ND in a class by itself.

[/QUOTE]

That depends on how well known you consider Haylie Duff to have been at the time.

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[QUOTE=Gentle Robot]
Nope. They said they were paying by the minute and he was running up the bill in chatrooms.
[/QUOTE]

Pay-by-minute internet service was still available in 2003/2004. Especially if there were no local-access dialup numbers in small town Idaho.

30

[QUOTE=aktep]
That depends on how well known you consider Haylie Duff to have been at the time.
[/QUOTE]

Or Tina Majorino, who, before taking a break from acting to finish school, had significant roles in four major motion pictures under her belt, and had had a TV version of Alice in Wonderland built around her.

31

[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac]
This is true. It’s like the humor in Bottle Rocket or Fargo– not about setups and punchlines as much as just watching some eccentric people interact with each other in an unstructured way. IME people either strongly ‘get’ this style of movie or they strongly don’t get it; not a lot of middle ground.
[/QUOTE]

As soon as the movie started, it reminded me of Bottle Rocket, which is my favorite all-time movie.

32

This was on CTV last night, and I finally saw it. It really was my kind of movie: quirky, strange, and both real and surreal simultaneously. It reminded me of Fargo, in a way.

I’m glad I finally saw it. Of course my wife thought it was perhaps the stupidest movie she had ever seen, which is why we never rent movies like ND.

GOSH!

33

[QUOTE=Eonwe]
I agree with this post 100%.

There’s a huge element of tragedy in this movie right beneath the surface.
[/QUOTE]

Thirded. I found parts of ND funny, but I found it sadder than it was funny by a factor of about ten. Something about him not fitting in, and (vaguely) realizing he doesn’t fit in, and…arrggh. He’s halfway between Asperger’s and me, the “average” high school dork.