This is the story of a nerdy high-school misfit fromIdaho, set in some strange amalgam of the 1980s and late 90s. While itcertainly isn't the first film that sets out to document the strangelife of the weirdo freak, it is one of the funnier ones. Napoleon is afrizzy-haired compulsive embellisher who's imagination and creativityget the best of him and set him apart from the other students. He liveswith his grandmother and older (early 30s) brother who lives at homewith no apparent job. When another kid named Pedro transfers into theschool, he befriends Napolean, and once it gets rolling, it becomes oneof the stranger buddy movies. While Napoleon Dynamite has been (bothfavorably and negatively) compared to Rushmore, the films aren't allthat similar. While they both deal with a young man trying to fit in atschool, Dynamite doesn't have the darker components of Rushmore.Napoleon Dynamite is simply a light-hearted comedy that was made bysomeone who apparently appreciates Wes Anderson, but didn't blatantlypinch his style. Even better, the soundtrack to Napoleon doesn't sufferthe MTV-ification of Anderson's films (where every single film momenthas a pop soundtrack). While my expectations going in were low, I wassurprised. I halfway expected a film who's "good parts" were allcontained in the trailer, but it was enjoyable as a whole.
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