FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed by: Jared Hess. Produced by: Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt & Sean C. Covel. Written by: Jared Hess & Jerusha Hess. Director of Photography: Munn Powell. Edited by: Jeremy Coon. Music by: John Swihart. Released by: Fox Searchlight. Country of Origin: USA. 86 min. Rated: PG. With: Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Tina Majorino & Diedrich Bader. DVD Features: Commentary by director/co-writer Jared Hess, producer Jeremy Coon & actor Jon Heder. “Peluca”, student short film with commentary. Making-of featurette “The Wedding of the Century”. Deleted scenes with commentary. Promos. Trailers. English & Spanish audio. English, French & Spanish subtitles. Widescreen/full screen.
An awkward high schooler who whiles away the hours doodling reveries to Pegasus, Napoleon
Dynamite (Jon Heder) lives with his grandmother and his older brother in rural Idaho. At school,
Napoleon is picked on by bigger and popular kids who belittle his interest in the Loch Ness
monster, slam him against the locker or smoosh his tater tots. His only friends are fellow nerds
Deb (Tina Majorino), an aspiring fashion photographer, and Pedro (Efren Ramirez), the new kid fresh from Mexico. Tension
comes from the attempts Napoleon makes to fit in on his own terms; to get a date for the dance or Pedro elected as school president. His efforts are frustrated mainly by his
interfering Uncle Rico (Jon Gries), who makes sleazy attempts to sell breast-enhancing herbs to Napoleon’s
female classmates. Stuck in 1982 (somehow the whole town is too), Rico believes that if the
coach had only put him in the fourth quarter, senior year, he would have
gone pro, and these days probably be "sitting in the hot tub with his soul mate." Aided
by mostly clever writing, the cast has a subtle grasp of their characters. Even Uncle Rico
eventually become appealing. Ultimately wholesome, the film’s mild character-driven humor and
its treatment of events and its eccentrics can only be described as sweet, one of the adjectives
Napoleon uses frequently. From its inventive opening sequence, which sets the tone, viewers are
likely to be amused onward. Joel Whitney, screenwriter/poet, teaches at Fordham University
DVD Extras: If you're on the fence about watching the film, you can sample
its sense of humor in Hess' short film, "Peluca". The MTV promos
are funny and offbeat, the perfect marketing tools for this deadpan and quirky film.
On the audio commentary track, Hess, a director to keep your
eye on, keeps the mood light by punctuating the conversation with tales of his
days at Brigham Young University with Napoleon himself, actor Jon Heder. After the film’s credits, stay tuned for an
additional scene, a wedding that was added to the film in the middle of its theatrical run, capitalizing on the good
word-of-mouth it had generated. Jeff Sneider
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