Tonight I went with a friend to see Napoleon Dynamite starring Jon Heder as Napoleon. The setting is basically the high school of a small town in Idaho. While the movie is overall very charming and very funny, it falls apart. I guess that the writers forgot to include any sort of a cohesive plot. The end result is a boring movie that has various scenes that are quite funny.
I'm sure that someone knows a person like Napoleon, but I don't. The story centers around a dork who is stuck in a different time period. There isn't anything he really hopes to gain. The characters are, besides his potential girlfriend, are unlikeable. The movie just never really makes it clear what any of these characters want to achieve in the movie.
The audience is certainly able to get to know the world that is around Napoleon. You are able to meet his potential girlfriend who has an adorable side-pony tail. She is first trying to sell glamour shot photos and unfashionable keychains to Napoleon to earn money for college. We see her later at school, at a dance, and in her photo studio shooting shots of the brother and uncle.
The brother and uncle have their own story that centers around trying to earn money. Of course, since they have no marketable skills, they do this through trying to sell things like breast enhancing herbal medicine and tuperware to unsuspecting women. It is both cheesy and frightful. There is never any reason given for the audience to like the uncle, let alone the brother.
I agree with Roger Ebert who says,
Watching "Napoleon Dynamite," I was reminded of "Welcome to the Dollhouse," Todd Solondz's brilliant 1996 film, starring Heather Matarazzo as an unpopular junior high school girl. But that film was informed by anger and passion, and the character fought back. Napoleon seems to passively invite ridicule, and his attempts to succeed have a studied indifference, as if he is mocking his own efforts.
This movie is not one that begs to be seen. The only reason anyone, in my opinion, would say it is good is because they are supposed to think it is good. I did laugh at scenes when I was at the theater because it was funny at times. Being funny, unfortunately, doesn't make up for the fact that there was absolutely no story to the movie. The plot was not developed and the writing was very amateur. I see promise in the writers, but I can't advice you to spend eight dollars at the theater for this. If anything, split the cost of rending the DVD with a friend and enjoy a few laughs.
