Hey, squirts! Quint here with our main man Capone's look at NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. I missed this film when it played SXSW and, boy, was I chided for it. The resident creepy school-yard stalker, Rav, fell in love with it, saying it was just as funny as SUPER TROOPERS. If he's even half right, then this movie will be comedic gold! Hell, it has Jon Gries in it! Lazlo! Man in closet in REAL GENIUS!!! Not to mention the Wolf Man in MONSTER SQUAD... Ah.... Anyway, here's dat doity raaaatttt to tell you more!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here with what might be one of most difficult reviews I’ve ever had to write. Why? Because NAPOLEON DYNAMITE succeeds in ways that no mere words can describe. This is the sort of film that ends up on critics Best of the Year lists, and I can pretty much guarantee you it’ll end up on mine. There’s not really a story, just a series of incidents that form fairly credible and absolutely hilarious character studies. The camera work is static and largely unmoving, the performances are about as deadpan as I’ve ever seen, and the comedy is not the result of a setup followed by a punchline. The film functions as as loving tribute to the outcast in all of us. Here, the social misfits are the heroes and everybody else can go to hell. Okay, I’ve just reread what I’ve written, and it still doesn’t capture the sheer awesomeness of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. This is the sort of film you’re only going to GET by seeing it, probably more than once.
After sitting through this film, I know one thing for sure: I would love to meet its director Jared Hess, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jerusha Hess. This guy is a freakin’ genius. Based on his short film PELUCA, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE takes place in a medium-sized town in Idaho where nothing much happens. It’s a little difficult to pinpoint the exact year this takes place. The soundtrack and wardrobe seem to be from the mid- to late 1980s, but the references to the Internet make it seem like a more modern setting. I’m fairly certain Hess is being deliberately vague about his timeframe or perhaps he’s taking a shot at the behind-the-times state of Idaho. Either way, the film works all the better for these mixed messages.
Amazing newcomer Jon Heder play the title character and he is a sight to behold. He sports an unkempt mop of curly red hair, his nose seems permanently stuffed up so his mouth is always hanging open to help him breathe, and his demeanor is that of an angry person who has just been roused from sleep. Heder might be the greatest actor in the world, but my guess is there’s no acting going on. This guy is the real deal, and you will fall in love with this guy. He is clearly someone who has led an isolated life and his passions exemplify this. He’s into medieval warriors, kung fu, and drawing imaginary animals (including his favorite, the crossed lion and tiger known as a Liger). He possesses the angst and frustration of all teenage rebels (I’m guessing he’s supposed to be 16 or 17 years old) but he has very little of the wherewithal to really do anything about his place in the world. He and his 32-year-old brother Kip (the equally believable loser Aaron Ruell) live with their grandmother, who is injured early in the story. The boys’ Uncle Rico (Jon Gries, recently seen in THE RUNDOWN and NORTHFORK), a former high school quarterback who wishes more than anything in the world he could go back in time to when he was something resembling a success. He makes videos of himself throwing the football, and makes the boys watch them with him.
Napoleon befriends a new student named Pedro (Efren Ramirez), a Mexican immigrant with even worse social skills than our hero. The two give each other just enough courage to get through life’s most basic challenges, like asking a girl to a dance or running for student body president. The one aspect of this film I may never get across to you is the actors’ delivery, especially Napoleon’s and Pedro’s. Their expressions rarely change. Napoleon seems to have two emotions: stagnant and fussy. When he gets frustrated he thrashes his arms around, but never to hit anything other than air. It’s bizarre to watch, but it makes perfect sense. These kids aren’t simply Hollywood-simplified geeks. They’re not particulary smart, they daydream and display harmless behavioral problems. They’re sweet kids who have no basic concept on how to function with 99.9 percent of the planet’s population.
The girl that Napoleon seems to be able to communicate with on any level is the almost equally weird Deb (Tina Majorino, who some of you might remember from WATERWORLD, CORINA, CORINA, or the 1999 television version of “Alice in Wonderland”). She’s trying to get a glamour-shot photography business off the ground, but when she goes door to door trying to generate interest in her work, she panics and runs home. She’s absolutely adorable in her own quirky way, and there’s always something just a little bit off with her hair and clothes.
This movie goes out of its way to avoid the cliches of every other high school film that came before it. As much as I like MEAN GIRLS, it still hits most of the oft-visited subjects in such movies. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE does have a big dance, but it’s more like a less-important mid-year thing that doesn’t require that all of life’s problem get solved during the event. This film also has a couple “popular kids” and bullies, but they are minor nuisances. Pedro decides to run for class president against the most popular girl in the school, Summer (played by Hilary’s sister Haylie Duff), and their final face off before the collected student body is the stuff of legend. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but Napoleon does something during this event that will not only astonish you; you’ll probably forget to breathe.
I’m guessing that the movie NAPOLEON DYNAMITE will get compared to the most will be WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE. That’s fit praise indeed, but not quite accurate. The characters in NAPOLEON are even more displaced. You get the sense that if they don’t grab a bit of greatness in high school, they may never have another chance. Perhaps the better comparison would be with AMERICAN SPLENDOR, but set in high school. The frustration and unfocused anger that permeated that wonderful work is all over NAPOLEON, perhaps with less meanness. Above all other things, however, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE is the funniest film I’ve seen in a long time. There were people of all ages in the screening I attended, and all of them were laughing themselves silly. This is a PG-rated film, but there’s nothing childish about it. The film is currently scheduled to open in mid-June in major markets (including a June 18 release in Chicago at the Landmark Century Center theatres). This is a film for all ages, a film for the ages, and one of the best and funniest films of the year.
Capone
email: Email Capone here, but don't be surprised if you encounter some foul language... He's a mean one!!!
