Another blatant plug for Napoleon Dynamite, my favorite film of 2004 so far.
http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/napoleondynamite/epk/index.php
The official site is loaded with good stuff. Go to “Multimedia” to watch a bunch of clips from the film.
Sheeeeit, I can’t wait for the DVD.
One hour later, I return to Qt3.
I know someone who is a huge fan of the film who has the liger t-shirt, the punch card and the poster. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I always admire a film that can get a cult following like this. I’ll try and see it maybe next weekend.
VOTE FOR PEDRO shirts seem to be crazy common around NYC lately.
Saw it again today. Sheer brilliance.
“Pedro offers you his protection.”
“Pedro offers you his protection.”[/quote]
“I see you’re drinking 1%. Is that because you think you’re fat?”
“Don’t be jelous that I’ve been chatting with babes online all day.”
(looks at Boondoggles)“I only made like infinity of those at camp.”
BTW, does anyone know what was supposed to be wrong with Pedro - why he kept getting hot flashes or whatever?
He was full of political heat.
They seem to kick in immediately after he sees Summer campaigning for president, so I’m guessing it’s some kind of nervous condition.
Is it the kind of brilliance that there’s any chance of explaining to me? I saw it tonight and was kinda bored. It had it’s funny moments, but the movie as a whole wasn’t entertaining. There wasn’t much humor, just a great deal of akwardness and absurdity. Was that the point? Do I just not get it?
“You guys are idiots! Gosh!” Okay, I went and saw “Napoleon Dynamite” yesterday like I said I would. I have to say some of those moments were down right hysterical. I have always wanted to smack someone upside the head with a steak. Not to mention that I grew up in the hell that is farmland. Not Idaho, I’m grateful to say, but a shit kicking small town just the same. I worked on the farms with all sorts of idiots to pay my way through college and yes, I was and still remain a weirdo. However, I must admit that although the movie had my rolling at times (Is that dance scene not one of the best of the year?), I was hard pressed to find a story present throughout the film. I wasn’t too fond of that photographer gal. I kept asking myself, why didn’t the screenwriter have that girl just date Pedro (because, let’s face it she was boring as hell) and have Napoleon have to take Summer to the dance? I’d just about get rid of the other girl that Napoleon does take to the dance and have Summer get forced to go with him because her mother is buying Tupperware. Doesn’t even matter she’s dating the loser jock. I’d have built tension between Summer and Napoleon that fired off all sorts of anguish on their way to Pedro finally winning the presidency, including the uncle trying to sabotage Napoleon every step of the way and Summer promising to give Napoleon a “sweet” time.
Saw it Saturday. Lots of funny moments, but thats all it felt like. It was almost as if someone grabbed a bunch of skits featuring this funny weirdo, and strung them together to create a full length feature.
The final dance scene sealed this movie into near perfection.
My wife and I went to see it Sunday before last and I must admit that it’s funny, but it’s not as great as everyone makes it out to be.
The fact that it’s funny at all makes it brilliant in my mind. Most film comedies these days suck, unless you like watching Ben Stiller in awkward situations or black people saying things that I don’t understand :(
Yeah, there’s that. Comedy has gone downhill but there’s the occasional beaut that shows up.
I thought it was pleasantly surprising with some memorable scenes. I saw it at a film festival after a friend in New York pointed it out to me. I had no idea what to extra. From the way my friend described it, I thought it was going to be about an outcast high schooler who becomes popular through learning how to cage fight.
It’s not perfect, but “Pedro offers you his protection” and the scene that follows … that’s hilarious stuff. :)
My wife and I watched the DVD this evening. We both thought it was brilliant, despite the fact it made us both uncomfortable. She lived in a rural hell in northeast Nevada, and I lived in a rural hell in central Arizona, and it was obvious to us both that the writer had lived somewhere similar (Jared Hess mentions in the commentary he grew up and shot the film in Preston, Idaho - southern Idaho, which is very much a desert farming area like my wife and I experienced). They really did an excellent job of capturing all of the awfulness of those lives and distilling it down into a funny movie. I told my wife that I had to look around and reassure myself that I had gotten out, or I was going to put a shotgun in my mouth.
If you didn’t have that sort of background, I can see the film would miss its target. For me, it is the American Graffiti of geeks in rural desert farm towns.