46th Favorite Movie - Napoleon Dynamite
This is one of those movies that people either love or hate. Case in point, the reactions of two different people from my church:
*"Bone" Branagh, who is a currently a sophomore at Wheaton, saw it 11 times before it left the theaters the summer it came out.
*Nancy, our children's pastor, said she "didn't get it" and thought it was "one of the stupidest movies she'd ever seen". What she remembered most about the film a couple days later was feeling sorry for Napoleon because his grandma left him for a week with nothing to eat but frozen steak.
The one thing that everyone can agree on is this: it has been a long time since such a wholesome film had such a massive appeal to young people. Napoleon Dynamite was a gift for every youth pastor who struggles to find a clean film to show on movie nights that the students will like. Is there a youth group or youth pastor in the country that did not love this movie? At First Covenant, we named our VEHICLES after characters from Napoleon Dynamite, right down to paying for personalized plates.
I could sum up the plot, but I bet that 90% of the people who read this blog have already seen it (Mom, Dad... if you ever decide to get a DVD player, go out and rent this, ok?). Instead, I will explain why this is one of my favorite movies.
1. It is the most quotable movie of all time. If you saw it and liked it, chances are you have uttered one of these beauties in your best Napoleon or Kip accent:
"whatever I feel like, gosh!"
"your mom goes to college"
"you ever take it off any sweet jumps?"
"Pedro offers you his protection"
"Tina, you fat lard, come get your dinner!"
"Do the chickens have large talons?"
On a similar note, check out some of the vocabulary that we (we meaning my contemporaries and I) picked up from Napoleon Dynamite and have incorporated into our everyday language:
Tots
Nunchuck skills
Liger
Tigon
Happy Hands Club
Rex-Kwan-Do
2. The wide range of characters.
I think this was my problem with Nacho Libre. It was funny, but Jared Hess' follow-up to Napoleon Dynamite did not resonate with me or most people like Napoleon did. I think it is because Nacho was pretty much a Jack Black one-man show. The only other funny guy I can remember was his wrestling partner, who was pretty much Pedro version 2.0. In Napoleon you've got Pedro, Kip, Uncle Rico, Don, Randy, and my favorite, Rex, to complement the star.
3. It is somewhat... charming
Really, there are a lot of life lessons in ND. No, seriously, check these out:
-Find something you are good at and share it with the world
-There is a companion out there for everyone
-It's ok to be a little different
I'm sure I am leaving some great quotes, vocabulary, and life lessons out. If you can think of any, post a comment!
Two more things I want to say. First, Jon Heder will never duplicate the success he had playing Napoleon. Never going to happen, because he is not a super-funny guy. Have you ever seen him in interviews (I have) or any of his other movies (I haven't, thankfully). He is a nice guy, a charming guy, but not a super-funny guy. In Napoleon, he was playing a super-funny character. That is the big difference between Jon Heder and someone like Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler. Second, I fear that his inability to make an impression playing any other character, along with people continuing to identify him as "the guy from Napoleon Dynamite" when he has already been in four films since then, will lead to the inevitable decision to make a sequel to ND. And like most sequels, it will suck (the only exceptions in the entirety of cinema being The Godfather Part 2, The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones, LOTR, X-Men and T2) . So please... Jon and Jered, don't taint the legacy of a perfect film by trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice.
posted by Danny @ 6:37 PM
6 Comments:
I totally agree Fitel. They can not make a sequel. It will ruin it. Also, while ND is the best movie ever it has become to over played and over quoted. I feel though in 5 years this movie will come back with a bang again, because it is that kind of movie! And Nacho Libre... really not that great.
I have two comments:
1) The Mummy Returns was an awesome sequel and somehow that didn't make your list.
2) "My lips hurt real bad!"
Since Mom & I seem to have become characters in this narrative, I feel I should respond. We did have a dvd player, but Danny took it away (full disclosure: it was his).
Your reviews of movies that we have not seen (4 of 5)are very enticing. If they ever come to Parkway, we will catch them for sure.
Any comment on theater vs. dvd?
dad
i have to admit my first reaction was to wonder why ND placed on an, up to this point, rather high brow list.
i completely agree with your comparison of nacho and ND. nacho was more in your face funny and it was all jack black and pedro 2.0. ND is so funny because it grows on you as you see it more and more and there are so many different quirky characters.
and a seuqel would most definitely ruin things.
Woo - I was glad to finally see a fun movie on Danny's list. He started out saying this was not a list of the best movies ever, but his favorites, as in the ones he most enjoys. Anyone who "enjoys" Platoon more than Zoolander is a weirdo. I'm glad he at least has some fun movies on his list of favorites!
Now go make yourself a dang quesadilla! (And be sure to pronounce it "illa" and not "iya")
In response to the posting by this mysterious "dad" person (full disclosure: he is in fact my dad) the theater vs. dvd issue for me used to be one-sided in favor of the theater experience. As recent as 3 years ago, I was probably seeing 1-2 movies a week in the theater, and occasionally seeing the same movie twice before it left the theaters. I have changed my ways for two reasons: netflix and loudmouths. I still like seeing movies on the big screen, with an audience, before you hear too much about it etc. but with the dvd's coming out so soon after the theatrical release nowadays... it is a draw for me.
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