Napoleon Dynamite
Directed by: Jared Hess
Written by: Jared & Jerusha Hess
Starring: Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez

Every school had one. You know him, he wears out of date clothes and glasses from the early 80’s and he’s the only one who cares about ninjas at age 16. Well now this lovable nobody that everyone knows is at last getting his spotlight and the respect he deserves on the relatively big screen. It’s the new off beat, sarcastic comedy Napoleon Dynamite.

He doesn’t have skills, he’s negative and constantly annoyed and yet one of the most interesting characters in cinema at the moment. The film debuts Ron Herder; the Mormon university student turned character actor as Napoleon Dynamite and follows him through his mundane yet entertaining life in rural Idaho. One more fact about this movie, there is basically no plot whatsoever. It’s essentially a slice of life and a peek into the lives of Napoleon and everyone that surrounds him. His brother Kip, the 32-year-old unemployed, slightly gay, certainly dweeby computer chat room junkie. Their uncle Rico who is still wishing he got put into the fourth quarter to score the winning high school football touchdown. Now to make his dream a reality Rico convinces Kip to sell space age plastic Tupperware with him to finance the purchase of a time machine to transport him back to 1982. Deb, Napoleon’s neighbour with a crush, runs a glamour shot photo studio out of her house to make money for college. And of course Pedro the new kid at school who befriends Napoleon. With Pedro’s over confidence he and Napoleon explore dating and attempt to conquer popularity contests when Pedro campaigns for school president. Pedro’s platform: He has a sweet bike and he’s good at scoring chicks. With the exception of some of other minor characters that is the cast and the plot consists of them going about their business as usual while we watch.

In the grand tradition of contemporaries such as Wes Anderson (Rushmore) and Gus Van Sant (Elephant) this movie directed by new kid on the block Jared Hess relies heavily on stationary mise en scene and short, to the point dialogue. It is slow moving with extremely simple, palatable shots that somehow turn out hysterically funny and compelling at the same time. The film has no conflict to carry the characters through to point B; there isn’t even a point A. Only minor obstacles are presented to Pedro and Napoleon in which to overcome such as being picked on at school and being denied a date. The best part of these situations is that Napoleon doesn’t really realize he’s a sort of an odd nerd, which is why we love him. He never gets depressed, he instead reaches the same level of annoyance towards every situation and then moves on instantly leaving his troubles behind.

Lovers of The Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson films will find a new infatuation with this instant classic. The life of a young man wearing a helicopter tee shirt tucked into his sweat pants and space boots, with a vocabulary almost exclusively limited to the words “sweet,” “awesome” and “friggin’ idiot.” Full of one liners and brilliantly funny facial expressions this will quickly make its way to your favourite list. God what are you even doing? Go and see this sweet movie! Uhhhhhhhh. — Jackson Main