espi

Has anyone else seen Napoleon Dynamite yet? My wife and I caught it at our local indy/art house over the weekend, and we both loved it.

The movie, which screened at Sundance, is the story of Napoleon Dynamite, who goes to high school in the small town of Preston, Idaho. Napoleon is social outcast, and gets picked on and beat up for his nerdy tendencies. He spends most of his time in class drawing mythical creatures (such as the liger - a half tiger, half lion, that is bred for it's skills in magic), and for a current events report he recounts a story about Japanese scientists who attempt to blow the Lochness Monster out of the lake.

Napoleon lives with his grandmother and his 31-year old brother Kip. When Napoleon's grandma gets injured in a quadcycling accident his Uncle Rico comes to stay with them. Uncle Rico is stuck in his glory days of high school football, and Kip spends his entire days chatting to hot chicks on the Internet.

The story mostly centers around Napoleon's interactions with Deb and Pedro. Deb is a girl who shows up on Napoleon's doorstep trying to sell boondongle keychains and glamor shots to raise money for college. It's almost immediately apparent that Napoleon has a crush on Deb, but he's too awkward to do anything about it. Pedro is a recent Mexican immigrant who comes to town and becomes friends with Napoleon. With Napoleon's help Pedro runs for class president against Summer, the most popular girl in the school.

I found the high school scenes to be best parts because they were so much like my own high school experiences. The dance scenes were particularly spot-on - even down to playing Alphaville for the slow dance.

The movie is full of great quotes, with a definite Mormon slant on the language. (Lots of use of the words "heck" and "gosh"). And the characters are all hilarious in their own ways.

There are some problems with the movie: the pacing is a little slow, and lot of the scenes feel like independent sketches thrown in for comedies sake. But, the biggest criticism I've read is that it's difficult to pinpoint when the movie takes place. Many of the fasions seems like they'r straight out of the 80s, but some of the music choices and the presence of the online chatrooms seem to contradict that.

This movie is defintely not going to be a blockbuster (as evidenced by the fact my wife and I saw it in a nearly empty theater), but it's sure to be a cult classic. Go check it out if you're looking for a break from summer action films, or if you just want to see something completely goofy.

Averett

I've been seeing commercials for this recently, and I've heard chatter about it. It sounds pretty damn good for sure.

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-Ever-

Thanks for the write-up. I've been seeing random previews for it and don't hear anyone talking about it. I think I'll check it out.
-T

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losthellhound

thank you for a run down on the movie.. I wasnt prepared quite yet to go into the movie blindly

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k1ng

I saw Napolean Dynamite and found it to be very entertaining. It's rare that you find a comedy rated PG, much less a GOOD comedy that is rated PG. I definately recommend this movie.

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Church

You're just jealous because I've been talking to hot chicks online...

All day.

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Through counter-intelligence, it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble makers, and neutralize them.

Rubyee

Yeah, I saw this movie advertised at a couple of theatres, but I didn't want to see it not knowing anything about it. I may have to see it now.

Thanks for the synopses.

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You don't know from fun.

kwoodmex

"The defect in this one is bleach."
"Correct!"
"Yesssssssssssssssss"

"Tina, come eat some ham! TINA! EAT SOME HAM!"


Man, this movie is classic, I saw it like 3 weeks ago when I was up in NY. Definitely go check this movie out.

espi

Sweet! I just read that the movie is going to be re-released in major theaters, along with additional footage on Friday.

You can check out the extremely small trailer for the additional footage on the Official Website (Warning: links directly to movie).

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If it weren't for my horse, I never would've spent that year in college.

crfpilot

this was a great movie, I really enjoyed it. I like your sleeves they're real big. hahahah

Maybe someone can answer this for me.
Spoiler: Why does Napoleon always have his eyes closed?

braindamage351

The world may never know.

Chingal0

I saw this tonight.. Oh man, I want my 8.50 back.

There were some entertaining parts, but as a whole, I was unimpressed.. Unimpressed because I had so much good talk about it, and there really was nothing.
Maybe I just went into it with the wrong mindset, but hey.. it really was not that funny, in my opinion.

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scansinboy

I saw it the other day and I'll say this:
It's Stupid, but in a charming sort of way.
Some scenes are very funny in a painful sort of way, kind of like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You don't want to watch, you know whats going to happen, but you can't help but watch and laugh anyway. There were several good lines, but no real catchphrases.

"Hey Napoleon, give me some of your tots."

Unfortunately, there isn't much on plot, and the movie seems awkwardly peiced together. It could have been better written and edited, to make it more of an underdog triumphs over adversity story, but as it is it captures the essence of being a social outcast, essentially what it's like to be a dork, in the formitive high school years.

Like I said, it's dumb fun, but a pretty good alternative to the typical summer crap.

Wait for the extra scene at the end of the credits.

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quest1mark

I thought the movie was flipping good. It had a dry sense of humor, that isnt for everyone, but I thought was refreshing considering all the other trash comedies that are out right now.

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soccerchamp76

Spoiler: I thought it was funny when the farmer shot the cow in the face right as the schoolbus went by

Napoleon, you know we can't afford the fun pack. What, do you think money grows on trees in this family? Take it back! And get some pampers for you and your brother while you're at it

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Brian Griffin: Ah, if my memory serves me, this is the physics department.
Chris Griffin: That would explain all the gravity.

soccerchamp76

Spoiler: I thought it was funny when the farmer shot the cow in the face right as the schoolbus went by

Napoleon, you know we can't afford the fun pack. What, do you think money grows on trees in this family? Take it back! And get some pampers for you and your brother while you're at it

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Brian Griffin: Ah, if my memory serves me, this is the physics department.
Chris Griffin: That would explain all the gravity.

PulpMind

*bump
I just saw the first half of this movie, and I'm already in love... Napoleon is like, that kid, you know, THAT KID. WHO ROCKS, because he doesn't.

the most quotable movie of all time? YESSSSSS.

Tralls

If you think he rocks from just watching the first half, wait till the end!

inharmony

Totally loved this movie...LAFAWNDUH!!

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mystmarimatt

Deb : What are you drawing?
Napoleon : A liger.
Deb : What's a liger?
Napoleon : It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

So funny...

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espi

I saw this Vote for Pedro sign in downtown San Jose a few weekends ago. I'm thinking about making up a Vote for Pedro t-shirt to wear on election day.

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If it weren't for my horse, I never would've spent that year in college.

Tralls

> Hey, Napoleon. What did you do last summer again?
> I told you! I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!
> Did you shoot any?
> Yes, like 50 of 'em! They kept trying to attack my cousins, what the
heck would you do in a situation like that?
> What kind of gun did you use?
> A freakin' 12-gauge, what do you think?

PulpMind

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

I have my laoptop here at work today, just so I can watch Napoleon Dynamite. YESSSSS!

ChrisJericho

This movie was pretty damned good. Well worth the download.


Best. Dance Scene. Ever.

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begforme2

Yea this is one of the best films to come out this year. They played a lot of commercials for it on MTV and a lot of people I knew really wanted to see it but didn't really know where. I found that it was playing at a local independant film theater and went to see it. It's unfortunate because the movie could have done much better sales wise if people could find theatres hosting it.

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Ace_O_Spades

Oh man... that dance scene was total gold

I'm going to try to convince one of my friends to make me a "vote for pedro" shirt

so far no luck... she's greedy with them

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Feh.

tooblekane

my "vote for pedro" shirt is supposed to be in the mail today

espi

Yeah! I just ordered my Vote for Pedro shirt, too. I wonder if it would be considered too political to wear when I'm a poll worker on election day.

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If it weren't for my horse, I never would've spent that year in college.

Lockjaw

I saw it but left before the bonus scene came on(didn't know about it) What happened?

Nimbletoe

I was pretty dissapointed. I thought it was ok, but there wasn't really a plot. However, the dance scene at the end made it worth the matinee price. Holy crapballs that was great.

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Harry Cox

I finally saw this move and I laughed until I cried. It's not obvious humor, like Dumb and Dumber, but it is hysterical.

"You know I'm training to be a cage fighter."

"This is like the worst video ever."
"You have no way of quantifying that."

"I made like infinity of these at scout camp."

Church

Here's a video one of my friends made. He's my hero, lol.

PLEASE RIGHT CLICK AND SAVE AS TO SAVE BANDWIDTH. Thanks
http://www.electrocity.ca/-%20Users/...s/napolean.wmv

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Through counter-intelligence, it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble makers, and neutralize them.

blitz.fenix

I had such high hopes for this movie as I heard it was a sleeper hit. I never knew how much of a "sleeper" it was. It was trying to be funny and it just wasn't. I admit there were some parts that were pretty funny but none that were LMAO moments. It's pacing is so slow after the first 50 minutes I wish it would just end.

grayman

I finally watched this the other day and I thought it was very funny.
By the way, I don't know about its reputed skills in magic, but a liger is a real animal, not a mythical creature. It is the result of breeding a male lion with a female tiger.
http://www.sierrasafarizoo.com/animals/liger.htm
The offspring of a male tiger and female lion is called a tigon.

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McG

My wife and I both loved this movie, but we took some friends to see it and they were split about it. You will love it if you like the painful humor and if you are into that then you should all see The Office Series from the bbc. Now that is super painful but glorious at the same time.

1slOwCD8

I saw this movie a couple of days ago. Its really really funny, i like it alot. The best part was definately the dance scene after pedro's speech, mainly because he stays in character so well during the dance.

CityOfAngels

Finally saw this tonight. I loved it! Yeah, I can't tell the era either; they play 80's music at the school dance, and many of the girls have 80's-style haircuts, but then Napolean dances to N'Sync and they have internet chatrooms.

"You're just jealous that I've been chatting with a ton of babes on the internet!"
"We're getting kinda serious, but I'm getting kinda P.O.'d, 'cause she still hasn't sent me a full body shot yet."

GREAT movie overall. Funny as hell.

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K-Wise

Napolean dances to Jamiroqui in the version I saw and the girls dance to the Backstreet boys. I thought it was really funny. Pedro's facial expressions alone make me crack up.

Asta!!

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Bratwurst

Saw this in the theatre a while back and have been quoting it ever since. My wife got me the dvd for xmas, which is great because when we saw it in the theatre we didn't know that there was a bonus scene at the end, so we missed it.

Booray

That's pretty much how I felt about it, except I didn't have very high expectations ahead of time because I'd read a couple of critics' reviews that didn't seem to indicate it'd be very good. I figured that the movie was probably going to be something that I'd consider to be overrated (since many people are praising the film), but I figured I'd at least enjoy some of the movie, but I didn't think there was really a truly funny moment to be had anywhere in the movie. I just kept waiting for it to be over. It wasn't a painful film to watch, just not good or entertaining, in my opinion. It just seemed to try hard to be quirky as much as humanly possible throughout the movie and pass it off as humor.

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