D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die…
Napoleon Dynamite, 2004.
Directed by Jared Hess.
Starring Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Efren Ramirez, Tina Majorino, Aaron Ruell, Diedrich Bader and Haylie Duff.
Napoleon Dynamite is the story of Napoleon, a down and out loner high school kid with a strange personality and an even stranger dress sense who tries to make friends, find a date for the prom and get his friend Pedro voted as Class President.
The film is set in a tiny Idaho town that looks the product of a by gone era. The people who inhabit this town are a collection of the weirdest and most wonderful characters. Napoleon and his older brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) find themselves home alone when their Grandmother is hurt during a quad biking accident and their uncle Rico (Jon Gries) comes to stay. Rico seems unable to get over not winning a high school football match and becoming a pro-footballer, despite being in his 40s. Kip has been having a serious long-term relationship via the internet and is trying to save enough money to meet his girlfriend for the first time. Him and Uncle Rico start a little business selling plastic storage boxes.
Napoleon’s best friend Pedro is a young man of Mexican descent who hopes to become Class President and together they plan to win the upcoming election, despite being the subjects of bullying. Napoleon also falls for a girl named Deb (Tina Majorino), who is a shy and quiet fellow student and hand made jewelry sales person. The story consists of these people all interacting as they chase their individual goals and go about their strange little lives.
Napoleon and his friends and family are the most bizarre and strange group of people ever seen on film and their lives, personalities and especially their clothes will have you laughing your backside off throughout the entire film. Nowhere else has such a range of weirdness been seen together on one strip of film.
Everything and everyone in this film could accountable to inbreeding, but none the less it is a classic film with a huge cult following and Vote For Pedro T-shirts became a minor hit following the films release. Napoleon Dynamite is a film you must see before you die.
D.J. Haza
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Originally published November 18, 2011. Updated April 10, 2018.
