Commentaire par Quinoa1984

Like Wes Anderson, co-writer and director Jared Hess has created his own little world (if it's based on a true story I can't tell, but some little details feel like they're truer than expected), and with a lead character with the title's name. Played with a down-beat, almost dead-pan style by Jon Heder (who, if he plays his cards right, could be a fine character actor), Dynamite's a character that definitely won't appeal to everyone, which is why I can't recommend the film as much as I would like to. Unlike Wes Anderson, the humor in the film isn't so subtle, and many of the characters aren't the kind you'd want to run into on a daily basis. But in Napoleon, and with those he's friends with (a funny Mexican immigrant named Pedro, a shy girl named Deb, and his brother Kip who has a internet dating crush), is an attitude and existence that's a great change of pace from the stretch of teen comedies where the main characters are all perfect looking and the lessor ones (the main characters in this film, even the supporting characters Uncle Rico and Rex) are given minute, in-consequential parts. And, for much of it, there's a lot of laughs.

But the laughs don't necessarily come from Napoleon being someone to laugh at (laughing down on), though Hess and co-writer Hess give him some good lines and mannerisms. It's in the other people he knows, and how it's a sort of satire on small-town life. A challenge, it could be said, to like Napoleon, but when other characters turn out to be far more ridiculous than him, he's a worthy protagonist. When his Uncle Rico soon turns out to show himself as a sort of antagonist, it's comfortable to laugh at him. Or with Rex-Kwan Do (with the appropriately goofy Diedrich Bader), this is a scene with some juvenile humor, yet the humor doesn't pit to one part of the audience over another. A film like Napoleon Dynamite owes as much to (though, in my view, is a better than) Revenge of the Nerds, it also is in the vein of a film like Angus, where the ones who are always pushed to the side and made to feel little by the popular ones have their day. And, as a nice little touch, some of the scenes have a very sweet feeling to them (when Napoleon dances, not just in his brilliant climax at the auditorium, but with Deb at the school dance).

Though I would usually advise against this, I suggest that if you've heard about this film and don't know whether or not to see it, watch the trailer. It doesn't spoil the better parts of the film, and once you're done with it you'll know if Napoleon Dynamite is the cult comedy film you've been waiting for this year, or if it's a piece of s***. A-