Biscuit of the Day - Napoleon Dynamite Review
Remember the Brat Pack movies and formulaic teen movies of the 1980s? For instance, cool dude Marty McFly in Back to the Future. The kids in the Breakfast Club who reconciled their social differences and built happily ever after friendships in the feel good 80s. Karate Kid. War Games with Matthew Broderick as the elite teen hacker. Well, take those formulas and turn them upside down on their head and you have the anti-superhero Napoleon Dynamite.
This movie is one of those rare movies that does not easily lend itself to categorization along the traditional Hollywood party lines. My brain searched frantically for genre cues throughout the first part of the movie. Is this a comedy? A tragedy? How do I respond? For much of the movie, one is struck by the pathos in the figure of Napoleon Dynamite. The poor guy has been stripped of almost every attribute that could redeem him in high school society.
He is gawky and has a face who only a mother (who is dead) could love. His clumsiness with girls and pickup lines provoked winces from the audience, being profoundly painful, sad, and funny at the same time. On top of that, the sting of his social and physical awkwardness is not blunted by the stereotypical 'Revenge of the Nerds' blessing of enhanced intelligence. Poor Napoleon could be called an 'innocent'. Although he is probably about 17, he inhabits the world of a 10 year old at best. As far as high school goes, he is destined to be an outsider, teased and forever looking in on the maelstrom of teenage society.
However, all is not totally lost and dreary in this world. His older brother Kip's search for online love and the antics of his uncle/protector turned antagonist alternate between amusing and shocking. The atmosphere particular to small towns was perfectly crystallized in film, as I remember from my childhood how small towns tend to serve as fossilized records of trends long since passed through mainstream society. Even the lack of special effects and casting of 'normal' people is almost overwhelmingly stark and refreshing after prolonged overexposure to CGI and physical perfection.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to those who want something different from the normal Hollywood movie overly laced with the emotional MSG of violence and non-stop action. This would also be a fun treat for late 80s kids like me to induce flashbacks of public school fashion (stirrup pants! sideways ponytails! intentionally clashing colors!).
This movie is one of those rare movies that does not easily lend itself to categorization along the traditional Hollywood party lines. My brain searched frantically for genre cues throughout the first part of the movie. Is this a comedy? A tragedy? How do I respond? For much of the movie, one is struck by the pathos in the figure of Napoleon Dynamite. The poor guy has been stripped of almost every attribute that could redeem him in high school society.
He is gawky and has a face who only a mother (who is dead) could love. His clumsiness with girls and pickup lines provoked winces from the audience, being profoundly painful, sad, and funny at the same time. On top of that, the sting of his social and physical awkwardness is not blunted by the stereotypical 'Revenge of the Nerds' blessing of enhanced intelligence. Poor Napoleon could be called an 'innocent'. Although he is probably about 17, he inhabits the world of a 10 year old at best. As far as high school goes, he is destined to be an outsider, teased and forever looking in on the maelstrom of teenage society.
However, all is not totally lost and dreary in this world. His older brother Kip's search for online love and the antics of his uncle/protector turned antagonist alternate between amusing and shocking. The atmosphere particular to small towns was perfectly crystallized in film, as I remember from my childhood how small towns tend to serve as fossilized records of trends long since passed through mainstream society. Even the lack of special effects and casting of 'normal' people is almost overwhelmingly stark and refreshing after prolonged overexposure to CGI and physical perfection.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to those who want something different from the normal Hollywood movie overly laced with the emotional MSG of violence and non-stop action. This would also be a fun treat for late 80s kids like me to induce flashbacks of public school fashion (stirrup pants! sideways ponytails! intentionally clashing colors!).
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