Napoleon is the work of newcomer director Jared Hess, loosely inspired by his 2003 short, Peluca. The film is essentially a loose collection of tattered skits and sight gags, all involving a troupe of nerds, freaks and misfits led by Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder). Napoleon is a caricature of all things dweeb, and just looking at him exudes laughter. A gangly, tight-jeans-and snow-boots-wearing loner with mid-’90s angst (prior to the days of geek-chic), Napoleon wanders around with droopy eyelids and elitist deadpan vernacular. With a fondness for fantasy animals (unicorns and “ligers” especially), mountain bikes and Magic cards, Napoleon captures something of the essence of American nerd-dom. In the end, though, he seems more like a reoccurring SNL character than anything else.
Supporting players include Napoleon’s brother Kip (a waif-ish Gen-X nerd in a ludicrous internet-fostered relationship), Uncle Rico (a sad sack door-to-door salesman), and Napoleon’s best friend Pedro (funnier than all the rest with his morbidly depressing Latino lisp). Each character has their own outrageous quirks (never explained), which are only occasionally funny. Basically the movie takes us through about two dozen sight gags in the lives of these rural Idaho eccentrics, from competing in an FFA competition (funny in a dumb way) to learning “Rex-quando” karate moves from a kitschy American-Gladiator reject (dumb in an unfunny way).
Less than half of these comical vignettes are laugh inducing, and then only in the presence of a crowded theater of “this will be a funny movie” hipsters.
It’s easy to see what went wrong with this MTV-produced film. Like so many young, straight-out-of-film-school hopefuls, Mr. Hess constructs a film based more on the styles, tactics and innovation of his heroes than on his own personal vision, and that lacking really bogs down this film. As homage to Wes Anderson, the film is cutely devoted (the boxed-in framing, rich color composition, random minority characters, and clever title sequences are textbook Wes), and as a tribute to rural Western despondency it evokes the quirky portraiture of Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt). But as a Jared Hess feature, the film falls short of having its own voice, which is unfortunate because the execution is solid and there are signs of bubbling creativity beneath the copycat exterior.
The film doesn’t really try to be anything more than just a cool-kid’s screwball comedy, but I suppose some might infuse a little depth into its portrayal of adolescent isolation, apathy and survival. To me the only real theme is that of individualism—embracing who you are, however annoyingly weird that is. Each character is driven by unconventional hobbies or desires, from taping yourself throwing footballs (Uncle Rico) to performing sign-language songs with the Happy Hands club (Napoleon). The film doesn’t make an explicit point of it, but it seems to say that life is better lived as a free spirit—even if it scares people away.
The main problem with Napoleon Dynamite is that the characters are nothing more than their weird mannerisms. We laugh at them but don’t sympathize, and a connection is never made. Wes Anderson and Alexander Payne have equally quirky characters in their films, but those oddities are only incidental pieces of nuance—the icing on the cake of character development made through tight scripts, good acting and captivating story. Napoleon assumes the funny traits and bizarre antics of its stars will be enough for us to love them, but unfortunately that is not the case.
More interesting than the characters—and really the only original thing in the movie—is the curious setting of the film. It is farm town Idaho somewhere in the early-to-mid ’90s, when computer chat rooms were novel and nerdy girls still wore crimped hair. There is a lovely rural dinginess to the film, combined with neo-’80s chic and an eclectic soundtrack (everything from Cyndi Lauper to the Backstreet Boys) that gives it that postmodern MTV appeal. Beyond that the film is a been-there-done-that bore, with a few good laughs but not enough to make it worthwhile.
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