Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

June 21, 2004

Fenway Theater, Boston, MA

** ½ / ****

By Scott Muoio

It seems every twenty years or so an era is resuscitated and again becomes the flavor of the moment. In the new millennium the 1980s, a decade famous for ornate pop music balladry, geeky hobbies, odd fashion, and of course, the coming of age story are in vogue. Themes of that time are revisited full speed ahead with a twist of modern irony in the new pop-culture obsessed comedy, Napoleon Dynamite.

Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) is the bushy haired, head geek at his tiny Idaho high school. Though it is seemingly 2004, Napoleon and his little Idaho town appear to have missed the memo. Instead of contemporary style coloring the scene, the actions, clothing, lingo, and music in Napoleon’s world (including When In Rome’s The Promise, Alphaville’s Forever Young, among others) are ‘80s-centric to the max setting the table for potential comedy gold. Unfortunately, within this surreal set-up what we get is sketch after sketch where we the audience are invited to laugh at how seriously Napoleon takes himself, his “skills,” and his persistence in being the consummate clueless weirdo with a heart of gold. The premise gives us several funny moments and some highly amusing dialogue, costumes, and set pieces, but with little in the way of character or plot development, the film fully materializes as strictly two-dimensional with one note gags repeated ad nauseum.

The supporting players in Napoleon’s weird world are interesting and funny characters. Pedro (Efren Ramirez) is the fish out of water Mexican immigrant. Uncle Rico (Tom Gries) is the has-been jock yearning for a return to his glory days of 1982. Kip (Aaron Ruell) is a chat room addict who seems gay but is convinced he has found his soul mate online. Certainly these are amusing stereotypes and the actors who play them do it perfectly, but with minimal character development they are merely good for a few cheap laughs and little more.

Instead of providing his characters with interesting arcs or deepening our understanding of them with clever nuance, Director Jared Hess is content to merely pop the same sledgehammer face-value jokes over and over. What you see is apparently what you get in small town Idaho, at least in Hess’s world.

Beyond the lack of character development, the real anchor of this movie is what I call “The Wink-Wink Nudge-Nudge Syndrome.” These days it isn’t enough to make a funny or weird movie. Instead, modern comedy must be entirely self-conscious with in-jokes told at the expense of others who “just don’t get it” or “aren’t cool enough to understand.” These point and stare tactics take the place of honest to goodness observational comedy. Napoleon and his bevy of family and neighbors are the clueless dolts I imagine those who feverishly relish this movie will enjoy mocking, not because they like or can relate to Napoleon, but because they enjoy being in on a joke without being its butt.

Napoleon Dynamite is a decent cinematic comedy but not much more than that. The college kids at the preview showing I attended ate the film up but I’m not convinced the movie has enough beneath the surface to prove any more than just another blip on the pop-culture radar.

Addendum: 10/28/2008 – Wow. Four years after the fact and Napoleon Dynamite is a bona fide cult hit. Who would have thought it? Well, I suppose everyone who was at that theater with me in 2004. Everyone, that is except me. No matter, I stand by my initial critique: Napoleon Dynamite has some funny moments but overall isn’t a good movie.