Forgive me if I’m being too straightforward or frank, but 90 minutes of your life is too much to waste in watching this movie.
As deadpan as comedies go, Napoleon Dynamite stars John Heder as the titled character — a super-duper weird dweeb filled with angst who seems half-dead in the entirety of the movie.
He lives in a worn-out rural province with his weird 32-year old brother who has an Internet girlfriend, and an uncle who’s as asshole. Believe me, the whole movie just shouts “worn-out” that it’s amazing how people couldn’t be worn out after watching such a depressing movie.
It was so bad I had a headache afterwards. It was THAT tiring to watch.
What perplexes me is that it was supposed to be very funny.
Loads of friends I know from the States have recommended for us to watch this movie.
It was said to be a favorite at the Sundance Festival.
As to why, I have no idea.
*scratches head*
Maybe it’s because viewers have fun watching underdogs who triumph in the end. But then again, how can you find a movie funny if you can’t get the point?
My verdict?
A total waste of time — When my friends and I watched this movie, NOBODY was laughing. Everyone was repeatedly asking each other what the point of the movie was. And funnily, nobody could get it.
All there was was embarrassed silence for not being able to laugh at what people would call as one of the funniest movies of the year.
Why can’t we get the jokes?
Was there something wrong with us?
Why couldn’t we find the movie funny at all?
Or maybe it’s just one of these movies where you either hate ’em — or love ’em.
And we merely just plain hated it.
We just couldn’t wait for the movie to finish. Till the end, we were waiting for that big punchline that never came.
Or maybe, it’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes?
You know, people think it’s funny because other people say it’s funny.
Well, personally, I think the movie stunk big time.
See it if you want. But I’m warning you — I didn’t find it funny. And chances are, you wouldn’t too.
But if you have watched it, do tell us why it was funny. Tell us the point of the movie. Cause frankly, nobody who watched it with me that night could get it.
On Making Connections Napoleon Dynamite:Have you ever watched an old video of yourself when you were a kid and laughed about how crazy your hair was? While watching, did you ever wonder how you could have ever liked what you were wearing 10-15 years ago?I’m 25, 15 years ago I was 10… 1985. America was culturally insane back then. This movie points out how nutty we as people were back then. The reason this movie was so funny was that I could relate with a lot of things they did and regret and dislike many of the modern day culturally suicidal things I did in the 1980’s.I remember that in 1985, Michael Jackson was “in”. I actually learned how to do the “moon walk” and it was actually cool to do it really well. At 25, it’s not so cool. It’s actually embarrassing. And no, I won’t show you me doing the moonwalk. It makes me laugh to think that there are videos of me as a seven year old showing my dad how I can moonwalk for the camera, and what crazy “skills” I had to impress the ladies. I naturally made a connection with Napoleon Dynamite when he did his dance routine.When I see a picture of me wearing a black shirt with big yellow polka dots, its embarrassing and it’s funny. I could so relate with Napoleon when he though he was looking good in that thrift shop brown suit.When I think about the little plastic charms we made as boy scouts that the girl in this movie was making, it brings back memories of me making them and giving them away. I actually thought they were artsy. The llama! Don’t tell me you didn’t laugh at the llama. That’s classic. “Hey Tina, come get your dinner!” You can’t tell me that was not funny. But again, you have to make a connection. I had a dog I had to feed named “G.G.”. We used to feed her “Gravy train” brand dog food. You could add water to the dog food and it would look like lumps of red colored bread floating in dirty water. It was nasty. So when I saw Napoleon do it, the nostalgic value was sky high. I couldn’t fight it or hold back my laughter.All in all, it was the many connections I made with the movie that made it funny. For the most part, many of my friends made the same types of connections. One of my friends who was brought up in Mexico said she would end it all (jump off a bridge) if she had lived in Napoleons world. I on the other hand, feel that I lived many parts of Napoleons world, am glad I’m no longer living it, and had fun remembering what life was like back in the 80’s.
Thanks Chris for explaining to me in depth the beauty of Napoleon Dynamite. Maybe it’s because I was born in the Philippines in the 1980s that I cannot relate to most of the scenes in the movie. Thanks!