FanUnity B(uzz)log

When I first saw the ads for "Napoleon Dynamite", I thought the film looked somewhat interesting but not quite enough to justify seeing it. I can't remember the first time I heard a reference to "Napoleon Dynamite", but soon they started popping up all over the place. The local gas station mini-mart had a bunch of "Vote For Pedro" pins and assorted knick-knacks. Even ESPN referenced "Napoleon Dynamite" on multiple occasions. That was the last straw for me. I needed to see this movie and find out what all of the inside jokes are about.

As it turns out, not much. "Napoleon Dynamite" isn't a horrid film, because I finished it, and whether I actually make it through a film is the limtus test for me of how bad it is. While watching it, I constantly asked myself why I continued to do so. Perhaps I was waiting for all of that funny stuff to happen. Perhaps I was slightly lulled in by the weirdness of it all. Who knows.

Weirdness is "Napoleon Dynamite"'s main calling card. Napoleon himself is a high school geek with an orange fro, nerdy glasses and a tendency to make public references to things like wizards, bowstaffs, pegasus and dragons. He's pretty much a loner except for his latently gay brother/cousin/whatever Kip, and eventually his new Latino friend Pedro he makes at school. Pedro has a way with the ladies, relatively speaking, and manages to get a date with the little girl from "Waterworld", who is now grown up. "Waterworld" girl and Napoleon end up as the real match, but Pedro gets his satisfaction by becoming class President in a race he wins against Hilary Duff's sister after Napoleon wins an audotorium full of classmates over with some kind of pop-and-lock type routine.

Interesting side note for those who have seen the film: When Kip's Internet dreamgirl arrived, I was quite certain she was a transvestite, but apparently she wasn't. I was looking for an Adam's Apple. That's the kind of mistake you are glad you don't make about someone in real life.

That "Napoleon Dynamite" is a film that is becoming widely referenced is a bit confounding. I'm not sure what people see in it. It's not very funny. It's not otherwise entertaining. It's a pretty run of the mill coming of age story. It's main character is a funny looking weirdo, but not one so outrageous as to deserve more public attention than, say, the vastly underappreciated Little Cletus from "Zoolander."

1.5/5 Stars.