Napoleon Dynamites' age?

September 6, 2005 12:26 AM

Napoleon Dynamite..so my son(25 yr. old) thinks that Napoleon Dynamite is actually an 8 year old being played by a young adult, and that's why the movie is so funny; grown-ups acting like 8 year olds.. I wasn't as enchanted but it is oddly fun to watch. Your thoughts?
posted by lois1950 to Media & Arts (42 answers total)

Yes.
posted by eschatfische at 12:30 AM on September 6, 2005

I thought the characters were supposed to be in high school. Hence the dance/prom?, etc.
posted by librarina at 12:44 AM on September 6, 2005

I don't know for fact...
But I thought those main characters were in a special-ed type of class... This is why they are so wierd....
Even the Napoleon's uncle is some what off-beat... I don't think his character is "special"... but I figured.. it sort of runs in the family...

It was very good movie though...

The last wedding sequence was kinda strange in indie-artsy type of way....

I don't know what kind of lesson the viewers are suppose to have learned except.... that every one is unique and special and can accomplish if they put their hearts for it....

I would like to hear more thoughts on the movie ( i just recently watched it twice....)
posted by curiousleo at 1:17 AM on September 6, 2005

When I watched it, I thought it could just as well have been a home video of mentally retarded people acting like mentally retarded people. Har har, look at how stupid they are!

With such good reviews, I'm sure much was lost on me...
posted by flavor at 1:35 AM on September 6, 2005

It seemed to me like a film conceived, written and directed by 8 year olds, so maybe your son's onto something.
posted by bunglin jones at 1:55 AM on September 6, 2005

The charm and appeal of Napoleon Dynamite is that it's a very entertaining movie about average, very normal, unexceptional people, which could describe 99 percent the country (and world for that matter.) There are no ultra-beautiful, unattainable Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie types in the movie, just regular looking people, if a bit on the geeky side. (There is the pretty, stuck up cheerleader, but she's the least sympathetic character in the movie.)

It's a movie about normal people for normal people; that's why so many folks relate to it. I would like to see Hollywood make more good, small, intimate, normal movies - not that there's anything wrong with a good, bombastic, escapist adventure.
posted by wsg at 1:57 AM on September 6, 2005

I enjoyed it mostly because it was about goofy, socially awkward people who come out on top while remaining goofy and socially awkward. No coming out of shells, really. No makeovers.

Napoleon's a big dork from the first frame to the last, and I... uh... relate to that.

I think it was overpraised, but it was a fun flick in my book.
posted by brundlefly at 3:33 AM on September 6, 2005

Someone commented in an article that it seems like Napoleon's whole town has Asperger's syndrome.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:29 AM on September 6, 2005

Actually, they are Mormon. And from Idaho.
posted by sdrawkcab at 4:34 AM on September 6, 2005

I don't think the characters were supposed to seem like special-ed kids or like people who are emotionally/socially stunted age-wise. They are just simple, small-town, Mormon Idahoans (or simple, small-town Idahoans in an area dominated by Mormon culture). Their odd ways are a reflection of the lack of sophistication not lack of mental capacity.
posted by necessitas at 5:11 AM on September 6, 2005

Forgot to add, I did not think it was fun to watch. I spent the whole movie wondering why people liked it so much. If I want to see such profoundly normal, socially awkward teens, I can stop by the mall.
posted by necessitas at 5:13 AM on September 6, 2005

The little guy wins in the end. It's a great formula for a successful movie. Here the little guys are just some unsophisticated, pretty dorky, but otherwise regular kids. Not with an eight year old mentality, just unsophisticated. If these guys can end up happy so can you. Remember, Pedro offers you his protection. Vote for Pedro.
posted by caddis at 5:37 AM on September 6, 2005

Wasn't there a scene of Napoleon's mate backing a van over a tupperware box? (Best scene IMO). Wouldn't have been driving if he were 8.
posted by ed\26h at 6:12 AM on September 6, 2005

They are just simple, small-town, Mormon Idahoans

I think if there is some place where those characters would be considered normal, it's going to be smaller than a small town. I've met a few simple, unsophisticated, small-town Mormons, and none of them were as stupid as the kids in the movie.
posted by sfenders at 6:24 AM on September 6, 2005

Actually, the writer used to live in (near?) Manhattan, Kansas, and based the character Napoleon on a couple guys he met there when he was younger. My token Mormon friend has met both of them and...well, they're special but they're not "special." (She told me their names, I've since forgotten.)

She met one at a party (Kansas Mormons are very well networked, it seems) last spring, and apparently he inspired the geekier side of Napoleon. She said they were hanging out at someone's house and a cat walked into the room. The guy said, to no one in particular, "I thought about not taking my allergy medication today, but now I'm glad I did." He was ~20 years old.

The other guy she met a few years ago. He inspired Napoleon's "heck yes"-type exclamations. She said she was stuck on a long car drive with him once and he complained about stupid things the whole time. I'm guessing he's ~20, too.
posted by katieinshoes at 6:53 AM on September 6, 2005

(At least, that's how my friend explained it all to me. I haven't fact-checked her.)
posted by katieinshoes at 6:54 AM on September 6, 2005

The charm and appeal of Napoleon Dynamite is that it's a very entertaining movie about average, very normal, unexceptional people, which could describe 99 percent the country

I've known nerdy people, but Napoleon Dynamite is an extreemly hyperbolic portrail of a 'nerd'. Most people are much saner then that, IMO.
posted by delmoi at 6:58 AM on September 6, 2005

Your son is right. Napoleon Dynamite, besides being an awful movie, is pretty much pure nostalgia for today's 18-25 year olds. Pretty much everything in the movie, from the drawings to the props to the dress to the plot etc etc, is supposed to hark back to the 80's, elementary-school type environment enjoyed by a lot of the movie's fans. And though Napoleon does stuff like drive and get a job that kids obviously can't/don't do, his general behavior is that of a big goofy kid. Though honestly, I'm sure I was much cooler when I was eight.
posted by nixerman at 7:00 AM on September 6, 2005

I spent the whole movie wondering why people liked it so much.

They simultaneously feel cooler than the charachters because they are less awkward and morally superior because they pity them.

(caveat: I haven't seen the movie and don't care to, but I've read so much NetTalk about it, I feel like I don't have to)
posted by jonmc at 7:24 AM on September 6, 2005

I figured it was about a 15-16 year old in high school who had not grown up yet, still acted like he did in 3rd or 4th grade, and the movie was about him going through emotional puberty. At the beginning of the movie he's hanging out with a 3rd grader on the bus, and at the end of the movie he's got a girlfriend.

The town I grew up in wasn't like Napoleon's, but it was within short driving distance of half a dozen that were. It's a caricature of those small Idaho farming towns, but not in the mean-spirited sense. He's clearly just summoning up all the goofy memories he has from growing up there and paying homage to them.
posted by Hildago at 8:03 AM on September 6, 2005

I hate James Joyce's Ulysses because it is indistinguishable from pure crap and it makes no sense. Also, I hear the author is gay.

(caveat: I haven't read Ulysses and don't care to, but I've read so much NetTalk about it, I feel like I don't have to)

It's stupid to pass judgement on a movie you haven't seen, no matter how many blog reviews you've read
posted by cyphill at 8:07 AM on September 6, 2005

Pop on Napoleon Dynamite at 3am after a night of heavy binge drinking while you're eating chicken wings with your inebriated friends. Then you will understand.
posted by FearTormento at 8:29 AM on September 6, 2005

I did see the movie recently, and jonmc has it right.

I suppose Napoleon is to simple-minded Mormons from Idaho what Seinfeld (the TV sitcom) was to NYC.
posted by sfenders at 8:39 AM on September 6, 2005

My friend who was raised in Idaho says that's pretty much how it is to grow up there. Between that and Saved!, it's her childhood in a nutshell.

A far more awkward movie about adolescence is Welcome to the Dollhouse, but that's based around middle school. Napolean Dynamite is high school.
posted by strikhedonia at 8:52 AM on September 6, 2005

I'm with brundlefly. What made the movie unique (for me) was it stayed away from formula. Napolean triumphed despite his "setbacks". It's a rare thing, a teen movie coming out of Hollywood, that has dorks coming out on top without a Doolittle-like transformation.

That's what did it for me. That and the dancing.

I also agree that it was overpraised. I don't think it's that uncommon for a small film like ND to achieve the popularity it did--but it usually takes many years. ND seemed to become a cult film starting with its first screening. I also love the fact that it outgrossed shit product like Catwoman.

They simultaneously feel cooler than the charachters because they are less awkward and morally superior because they pity them.

Do you realize that you say this about anyone who likes anything that you either don't like or don't understand? I don't think it's ever occured to you that there are people who like things (that you don't like) for the same reasons that you like things. If it has, I've yet to see you express it on MeFi.

Your life-view can be summarised as: If you like what I like, you're cool. If you like what I don't, you're a clueless idiot--a cow waiting to be led around by your nose ring--or a poser with a superiority complex.

caveat: I haven't seen the movie and don't care to, but I've read so much NetTalk about it, I feel like I don't have to

You've never let a lack of first hand knowledge about something stop you from expressing your opinion before. Why start now?
posted by dobbs at 9:23 AM on September 6, 2005

Count me in as another person that "didn't get it".

All I could think after watching it was that a bunch of MTV execs got together to come up with the most goofy ideas and scenarios, threw in some stereotypes and absurdity, and then made it into a movie. It was weird for weirdness' sake. It was not about normal people, it was about ridiculous caricatures. It sorta felt like a really long commercial for something that I guess I'm too old (or out of touch or lame or whatever) to even recognize.

I thought maybe it was just my age or where I grew up (northern NJ) that affected how I reacted to the film, but most of my friends loved it, so I can't figure out why I had such a negative reaction to it.
posted by MsVader at 9:38 AM on September 6, 2005

Napoleon and Kip reminded me of me and my friends in High School. I liked it a lot, and I was laughing in recognition, not in sneering superiority as others are suggesting the film's fans were.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 10:13 AM on September 6, 2005

Overpraised? All cult movies are explained away with that description.

My son mentioned it a few times and there are several Napoleon references slipping into pop culture, so we all watched it this weekend. You keep waiting for the punch line, but there is none; none of the people in the film ever has that great epiphany; they just keep on keepin' on.
posted by Doohickie at 10:16 AM on September 6, 2005

All I could think after watching it was that a bunch of MTV execs got together to come up with the most goofy ideas and scenarios, threw in some stereotypes and absurdity, and then made it into a movie.

From what I understand, MTV bought the distribution rights to the move after it was made.

Also, I think a big part of the popularity of the movie comes from the "lets laugh at freaks" angle.
posted by delmoi at 10:22 AM on September 6, 2005

I thought it was almost a surreal film with some ties to the real world. Some of it is very much like a fantasy, and some of it is very much like reality, I don't think it's meant to be entirely one or the other, and the tension this creates is part of what drives the movie. I think this is why it worked for me (that, and the dancing, and also Kip, who made me howl), I think it was actually very clever, as well as being funny. I don't see the 8-year-old thing myself (I see Napoleon as being a pretty standard (in some ways), uber-awkward teenager with one foot in childhood and the other testing the waters of adulthood), but I can see how someone could. I also like that it's a slice of life rather than a pat story, which is not everyone's cup of tea.
posted by biscotti at 10:31 AM on September 6, 2005

I think what appeals to people about Napoleon Dynamite is that most people either knew or were the socially awkward late bloomer. You know, the kid who was still carrying a lunch box in 7th grade or still collected GI Joes well into high school.
posted by electroboy at 10:31 AM on September 6, 2005

No makeovers.

Oh, come on- Deb totally gets the "I'm going to fix my hair and suddenly I'm cute" routine. I would have appreciated Napoleon Dynamite much more if it had preserved its integrity and not stuck in the "pretty ugly girl" as the love interest.

The movie was dull and pointless, though it never occurred to me that the characters were meant to be younger than they appeared. It would kind of explain a lot, but what's the point? For a movie whose ostensible virtue is that it lacks all gimmickry, it's a heck of a gimmick.
posted by mkultra at 11:29 AM on September 6, 2005

I think it was fun to root for an unlikely hero (or set of heroes), and refreshing to see a funny movie succeed without any curse words, violence, or sex. Not that I'm not generally a fan of all three.
posted by justonegirl at 11:30 AM on September 6, 2005

25 year olds acting like they are they're 8?

Sounds like MTV.

Which isn't a surprise, since this movie is basically a 2 hour long MTV show.
posted by shepd at 12:10 PM on September 6, 2005

I grew up in a small, unsophisticated town -- and could recognize most of the characters in the movie as people I knew back home. Not every kid sitting by himself in the lunch room has a stash of Joy Division records sitting in his room at home as a badge of his latent, unrecognized coolness; nor are they all a bunch of budding Dylan Klebolds. Some folks are awkward and weird, and their weirdness is neither comdemning or redemptive; it just is what it is. I admired the movie for showing that.

I had a sort of delayed reaction to the humor in Napolean Dynamite. While I was watching it, it wasn't as funny as I wanted it to be. Mostly I empathized with the characters, and felt bad for their humilation/suffering/indignity. But then two days later, lines like "Your mom goes to college" would come back to me, and instead of wincing at the fumbling cruelty, I laughed. After all, what's wrong with tater tot humor, really?
posted by junkbox at 12:23 PM on September 6, 2005

I loved it for everything it wasn't. It wasn't overly cute, it wasn't formula, it wasn't slick. I don't think it was made to make anyone feel superior. It's a small movie and the triumphs of the characters are small...kinda like real life.
posted by black8 at 2:21 PM on September 6, 2005

yes, what black8 said.
posted by caddis at 5:32 PM on September 6, 2005

I'm with black8 too. I guess I'm basically in the target audience (26) and my favorite part about it was that it was just fun and smart and silly. It's not really a movie that lends itself to analyzation. It was some friends who got together and made a movie that they thought was funny, and it turned out thousands of other people think their weird humor is funny too.

For the record, I thought it was much better the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. time. Then again, I couldn't really enjoy it the first time I saw it because I was distracted by my 50-something mom who checked her watch every 10 minutes. Maybe there's some sort of generational humor rift exemplified by Napolean Dynamite ;-)
posted by awegz at 5:46 PM on September 6, 2005

Having seen it, I agree with jonmc.

I saw it with a teeming crowd of indie hipster teens. The movie, taken on its own, was decent, but I suppose what truly annoyed me about it was that the people I was seeing it with would never relate to such a socially awkward character, should they actually meet one.

It's easy for them to quote all the funny lines in the movie and talk about how much they relate to Napoleon and how it's great that the "little guy" came out on top in the end, but that's all bullshit. These are the same people who would be right there making fun of him in his day to day life.
posted by jimmy at 6:31 PM on September 6, 2005

It's interesting that so many people are agreeing with someone who, by his own admission, doesn't know what he's talking about.
posted by Hildago at 3:54 PM on September 7, 2005

It's interesting that so many people are agreeing with someone who, by his own admission, doesn't know what he's talking about.

Right, but... I did see it. And I share his sentiment. So I agree with him.
posted by jimmy at 4:51 PM on September 7, 2005

Dance moves? Flippin' sweet...
posted by verisimilitude at 1:30 PM on September 14, 2005