"Napoleon Dynamite" at 20 years
June 28, 2024 9:54 AM Subscribe
The awkward, inspiring, completely out-there inside story of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’.
Twenty years later, the proud weirdos who made the movie look back on their deadpan classic.(WaPo gift link, archive)
vote for Pedro
posted by HearHere at 10:09 AM on June 28 [6 favorites]
posted by HearHere at 10:09 AM on June 28 [6 favorites]
was introduced to this movie by a friend from Idaho (who claimed the depiction of rural Idaho was very accurate) also reintroduced Tater Tots to my life. they go really well with Dungeness Crab, with some Dijon mustard. pinkies up!
and vote for Pedro
posted by supermedusa at 10:14 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
and vote for Pedro
posted by supermedusa at 10:14 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
Roger Ebert was not a fan, to say the least. I usually agreed with his reviews, but boy did he get some of them wrong.
posted by NoMich at 10:17 AM on June 28 [5 favorites]
posted by NoMich at 10:17 AM on June 28 [5 favorites]
I like the image at the top of that article. It's probably the best drawing they've ever done.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:21 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:21 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
Netflix - back before streaming was a thing, back when they actually cared about and promoted their ability to recommend movies based on your ratings - identified Napoleon Dynamite as one of the few films that broke their model. They had basically no ability to predict whether people would like it.
I, for one, have almost never hated a movie so much. Pure pain and cringe and suffering from the jump. I'm glad others enjoy it! I don't bring this up to complain about it, but rather because - IMHO - one of the most interesting and important parts of ND is how incredibly divisive and polarizing it is. People love this movie or cannot stand it and there aren't zero exceptions but it sure does feel that way.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:23 AM on June 28 [20 favorites]
I, for one, have almost never hated a movie so much. Pure pain and cringe and suffering from the jump. I'm glad others enjoy it! I don't bring this up to complain about it, but rather because - IMHO - one of the most interesting and important parts of ND is how incredibly divisive and polarizing it is. People love this movie or cannot stand it and there aren't zero exceptions but it sure does feel that way.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:23 AM on June 28 [20 favorites]
oh god this means i also graduated from high school 20 years ago. even back then, though, i could not throw a pigskin a quarter mile.
posted by busted_crayons at 10:24 AM on June 28 [3 favorites]
posted by busted_crayons at 10:24 AM on June 28 [3 favorites]
Embarrassed for the WaPo for spelling Diedrich Bader's name wrong (and they did it twice, so it's not a typo). Copy editing is dead.
posted by dlugoczaj at 10:30 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
posted by dlugoczaj at 10:30 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
As someone who grew up Mormon-adjacent in the Jello belt there's something inherently LDS about this movie that just jumped out at me and made it hard to give it an impartial viewing. Was never a fan but don't want to yuck anyone's yum.
posted by St. Oops at 10:32 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
posted by St. Oops at 10:32 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
I will laugh at steak to the face every time.
posted by cmfletcher at 10:35 AM on June 28 [3 favorites]
posted by cmfletcher at 10:35 AM on June 28 [3 favorites]
I cringed most of the way through until the big moment that I won’t spoil and suddenly it was the best movie I had ever seen. Everything comes together so perfectly in that moment.
posted by simra at 10:38 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
posted by simra at 10:38 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
the credit sequence with the white stripes soundtrack is great
posted by Morpeth at 10:40 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
posted by Morpeth at 10:40 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
Never seen it. However.
Napoleon Dynamite came on TV during one of the times I was back visiting parents during college, and I guess my dad was watching it as he was falling asleep. He was in bed and started shouting my name down the hall, I thought he was dying maybe idk, so I ran to his room. He's lying there, furiously pointing at the TV, and demands "WHAT AM I WATCHING???" how tf?? But I look, and it's obviously Napoleon Dynamite, and I say "why are you watching Napoleon Dynamite?" and he says "what was that music?" What music? The music that finished about a minute prior to getting to his room.
Cool.
But anyway, the internet existed even back then and it was the work of only a few minutes to figure out it could only have been Music for a Found Harmonium. Dad was asleep by then though so the revelation would have to wait until breakfast.
So I credit Napoleon Dynamite for bringing Penguin Cafe Orchestra, who I genuinely like, into my life, even though I've still only ever seen the few minutes it took to ID the one song.
posted by phunniemee at 10:55 AM on June 28 [12 favorites]
Napoleon Dynamite came on TV during one of the times I was back visiting parents during college, and I guess my dad was watching it as he was falling asleep. He was in bed and started shouting my name down the hall, I thought he was dying maybe idk, so I ran to his room. He's lying there, furiously pointing at the TV, and demands "WHAT AM I WATCHING???" how tf?? But I look, and it's obviously Napoleon Dynamite, and I say "why are you watching Napoleon Dynamite?" and he says "what was that music?" What music? The music that finished about a minute prior to getting to his room.
Cool.
But anyway, the internet existed even back then and it was the work of only a few minutes to figure out it could only have been Music for a Found Harmonium. Dad was asleep by then though so the revelation would have to wait until breakfast.
So I credit Napoleon Dynamite for bringing Penguin Cafe Orchestra, who I genuinely like, into my life, even though I've still only ever seen the few minutes it took to ID the one song.
posted by phunniemee at 10:55 AM on June 28 [12 favorites]
Hmm, yet another MetaFilter FPP posted only to make me personally feel old. Tsk.
My most vivid memory of Napoleon Dynamite, which came out when I was in college, was being scandalized by my first encounter with $10 movie tickets. (…might’ve been Shaun of the Dead, actually, but those two movies are inextricably linked in my brain.) Unfathomably expensive!
Anyway. I loved it at the time but haven’t watched Napoleon Dynamite in years. Maybe we’re due for a nostalgic rewatch.
posted by Suedeltica at 11:06 AM on June 28
My most vivid memory of Napoleon Dynamite, which came out when I was in college, was being scandalized by my first encounter with $10 movie tickets. (…might’ve been Shaun of the Dead, actually, but those two movies are inextricably linked in my brain.) Unfathomably expensive!
Anyway. I loved it at the time but haven’t watched Napoleon Dynamite in years. Maybe we’re due for a nostalgic rewatch.
posted by Suedeltica at 11:06 AM on June 28
"It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic."
posted by Windopaene at 11:19 AM on June 28 [9 favorites]
posted by Windopaene at 11:19 AM on June 28 [9 favorites]
As someone who grew up Mormon-adjacent in the Jello belt there's something inherently LDS about this movie
“Nice sleeves”
This movie is extremely rural Idaho. The weirdos and losers and strange old farmers.
posted by Uncle at 11:40 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
“Nice sleeves”
This movie is extremely rural Idaho. The weirdos and losers and strange old farmers.
posted by Uncle at 11:40 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]
I couldn't get more than 10 minutes through this movie before deciding it wasn't for me. It really felt like you were meant to laugh at someone autism-coded being socially awkward and I'm not interested in a movie that feels that mean about its protagonist. I feel like Roger Ebert's criticism of it in his review (linked above) comes from that sort of place.
Don't wanna yuck anyone's yum, but I don't think it deserves to be shielded from criticism either.
posted by Aleyn at 11:50 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
Don't wanna yuck anyone's yum, but I don't think it deserves to be shielded from criticism either.
posted by Aleyn at 11:50 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
I generally dislike cringe comedy (for want of a better term) where we laugh at the characters rather than with them (one of the reasons why I find Borat and its ilk unwatchable, however talented he may be).
I absolutely understand why people don't like it and I'm not sure I understand why people do, but I still liked it.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:54 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
I absolutely understand why people don't like it and I'm not sure I understand why people do, but I still liked it.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:54 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]
"Tina, you fat lard! Come get some dinner!" is my favorite line from this movie. It's a shame there are so few situations where shouting this out loud is even remotely appropriate.
posted by tommasz at 12:28 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 12:28 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
I was working (in a very roundabout way) on the Tavis Smiley PBS show back in the day, and they were puzzled why one of his most popular interviews (based on web traffic) was with this unknown actor named Jon Heder (the specific people I was working with had never heard of ND). Apparently Heder's following, based on the movie, was strong enough to bump the web stats.
I cannot do cringe so never have seen the movie.
posted by maxwelton at 12:34 PM on June 28
I cannot do cringe so never have seen the movie.
posted by maxwelton at 12:34 PM on June 28
It's basically like cilantro, but for comedy films
posted by Doleful Creature at 12:41 PM on June 28 [15 favorites]
posted by Doleful Creature at 12:41 PM on June 28 [15 favorites]
I cannot think of quesadillas with out the line "if you're hungry, then make yourself a kay-sa-dill-a" entering my head.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 12:57 PM on June 28 [5 favorites]
posted by ArgentCorvid at 12:57 PM on June 28 [5 favorites]
I think the idea that people are laughing at Napoleon in a mean way is a misreading of the entire movie. The magic trick that the movie does, IMO, is that it makes you recognize yourself, and everyone you know, affectionately, in these characters who are utter dorks. There is a huge amount of self-deception that goes on, in middle school and high school but also throughout life, because people need to believe that they're cool. This movie reveals people to be utter dorks, but also makes you feel that there's something kind of beautiful about being an utter dork. That, anyway, is my feeling about it.
I have a lot of favorite moments, but to pick one arbitrarily--there's a bit where Napoleon is escaping from Uncle Rico by jumping a fence. He pushes off with the wrong leg, in such a way as to apply no force to anything he might be trying to push off from, and he falls heavily in a ridiculous position, as if he's leaping balletically instead of dropping straight down like a rock.. I know how you would do that--it's exactly what would happen to me if I tried to jump a fence--but I have no idea how you'd do it DELIBERATELY in the course of acting a scene, without making it look deliberate. I've always thought that was a perfect little moment from real life that it's amazing to see captured on film.
Edit: apparently I'm not the only person who feels this way, since you can find this by googling 'Napoleon Dynamite fence jump'. Magical moment at about 0:44.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 1:00 PM on June 28 [26 favorites]
I have a lot of favorite moments, but to pick one arbitrarily--there's a bit where Napoleon is escaping from Uncle Rico by jumping a fence. He pushes off with the wrong leg, in such a way as to apply no force to anything he might be trying to push off from, and he falls heavily in a ridiculous position, as if he's leaping balletically instead of dropping straight down like a rock.. I know how you would do that--it's exactly what would happen to me if I tried to jump a fence--but I have no idea how you'd do it DELIBERATELY in the course of acting a scene, without making it look deliberate. I've always thought that was a perfect little moment from real life that it's amazing to see captured on film.
Edit: apparently I'm not the only person who feels this way, since you can find this by googling 'Napoleon Dynamite fence jump'. Magical moment at about 0:44.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 1:00 PM on June 28 [26 favorites]
As someone who grew up as a Mormon in the mountain west this movie hit really hard for me. My best friend and I were in our 30s literally rolling in the movie theater. Gentlemen Broncos is another weird quirky indie movie made by the Hesses that I watched recently. Good, weird, awkward but worth a watch.
posted by ShakeyJake at 1:13 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
posted by ShakeyJake at 1:13 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
This movie came out the same summer I started a kind of personally transformative job working in an independent movie theater. I remember its run lasted the whole summer - people kept coming to see it, so we kept running it. This specific had regulars. My roommate was one, he kept bringing new groups of friends to see it. I was never sure if he "got" it, or if he just really liked laughing at nerds, but I don't think the later would have pulled him in so hard.
It has a weird and unique power. I agree you're supposed to sort of see yourself in the characters and laugh at yourself by proxy. It's a clever little trick of storytelling. It makes me think so fondly of my (profoundly annoying) self in middle school and early high school. My sword fights in the back yard and belligerent opinions about Star Trek aliens and complicated taxonomies of dragons. That sort of weightless age where you're sort too old for your childish passions but haven't figured out an adult relationship to them yet. There are very few movies that can summon the sincere awkwardness to examine that narrow stage of life. Napoleon Dynamite is on the short list.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 1:20 PM on June 28 [19 favorites]
It has a weird and unique power. I agree you're supposed to sort of see yourself in the characters and laugh at yourself by proxy. It's a clever little trick of storytelling. It makes me think so fondly of my (profoundly annoying) self in middle school and early high school. My sword fights in the back yard and belligerent opinions about Star Trek aliens and complicated taxonomies of dragons. That sort of weightless age where you're sort too old for your childish passions but haven't figured out an adult relationship to them yet. There are very few movies that can summon the sincere awkwardness to examine that narrow stage of life. Napoleon Dynamite is on the short list.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 1:20 PM on June 28 [19 favorites]
I went into this shortly after it began airing on cable completely unaware of anything about it, other than the title and my teen daughter thought it was funny. I was a bit confused the first time, but every subsequent viewing it gets better and better and better.
So...random and whimsical, with beyond-quirky characters and endlessly meme-able phrases, etc. And none of the characters are particularly evil or mean - some regular high-school clique-ness, etc, but nothing horrible.
Still completely baffled that they (?) attempted a Napoleon Dynamite cartoon TV show a few years later. It was not good.
BTW - happened to catch Heder on broadcast TV last night doing a commercial for tater tots. Gosh!
(ps - your mom goes to college)
(pps - build her a cake or something)
posted by davidmsc at 1:37 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]
So...random and whimsical, with beyond-quirky characters and endlessly meme-able phrases, etc. And none of the characters are particularly evil or mean - some regular high-school clique-ness, etc, but nothing horrible.
Still completely baffled that they (?) attempted a Napoleon Dynamite cartoon TV show a few years later. It was not good.
BTW - happened to catch Heder on broadcast TV last night doing a commercial for tater tots. Gosh!
(ps - your mom goes to college)
(pps - build her a cake or something)
posted by davidmsc at 1:37 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]
> Netflix - back before streaming was a thing, back when they actually cared about and promoted their ability to recommend movies based on your ratings - identified Napoleon Dynamite as one of the few films that broke their model. They had basically no ability to predict whether people would like it.
Oh, how I fine-tuned my ratings. In my internal rating model, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s all had distinct (but somewhat continuous) meaning, and as the rating engine seemed to try to get really close it meant I could decide that "tonight, an action movie 2 would be fun" and find it.
posted by NotAYakk at 1:43 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
Oh, how I fine-tuned my ratings. In my internal rating model, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s all had distinct (but somewhat continuous) meaning, and as the rating engine seemed to try to get really close it meant I could decide that "tonight, an action movie 2 would be fun" and find it.
posted by NotAYakk at 1:43 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
I agree with Sing or Swim. For me, at least, the characters (and the whole movie) have a charm that outweighs the cringe.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:43 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:43 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
I think the idea that people are laughing at Napoleon in a mean way is a misreading of the entire movie.
I think this actually speaks to the core of what's polarizing about the film. There is no room in my soul for "laughing at him in a way that isn't mean." I never experienced that myself; especially as a kid, but still as an adult, there is no such thing as "laughing at somebody in a non-mean way." To be laughed at is to suffer cruelty; there is no other possible interpretation for me. My profoundly annoying self in middle and high school was awkward, and mocked for that awkwardness, and to have it summoned up and treated as light fare is psychic violence.
Mind you: I am completely aware that this isn't how everybody experiences the movie! I get that it's my experience and many, many people love it. I just want to be clear that it isn't a failure to read the movie correctly. We are 100% reading it correctly. We just react differently to it than you do.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:47 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
I think that's very true Tomorrowful. I hated this movie and I too was mocked and ridiculed for my awkwardness all the time when I was growing up. The person who did the majority of it? My brother. Who loves this film. I'm not saying he enjoys it because of its cruelty but he certainly enjoys being cruel.
posted by downtohisturtles at 1:53 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]
posted by downtohisturtles at 1:53 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]
I just think Tina Majorino is the best. In everything she's ever been in. One of those actors who should be way more famous than she is.
posted by atomicstone at 2:29 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
posted by atomicstone at 2:29 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
When I was in high school I ran for class president. I thought it would be cool and edgy to fill a kiddie pool with black jello and take a swim in it. That was my speech, plus a lame top ten list.
You can imagine many ways that might have turned out and for sure none of them were cool or edgy.
That’s why I can both laugh at and laugh with ND.
posted by simra at 3:01 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
You can imagine many ways that might have turned out and for sure none of them were cool or edgy.
That’s why I can both laugh at and laugh with ND.
posted by simra at 3:01 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
I watched the movie because of the Netflix contest. I figured there had to be something interesting about a movie which affected people in such an unpredictable way.
It's surprising because it's a movie about normal maturation. A remarkably unpromising young man takes on some responsibility, learns some skills in private, and surprise! he's not a fool anymore.. He's no long telling random lies about how cool he is.
This isn't a hero's journey.
I liked the movie.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:04 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
It's surprising because it's a movie about normal maturation. A remarkably unpromising young man takes on some responsibility, learns some skills in private, and surprise! he's not a fool anymore.. He's no long telling random lies about how cool he is.
This isn't a hero's journey.
I liked the movie.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:04 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
I think the idea that people are laughing at Napoleon in a mean way is a misreading of the entire movie.
Agree with this. There was a lot of me and my friends in this film. I don't find it remotely cringe or cruel, just the sort of familiar dorkery lots of people get up to. It's like a much gentler SLC Punk without the difficult parts and the annoying corporatist ending.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:04 PM on June 28 [5 favorites]
My favorite tiny little bit: after Napoleon and Kit go to Rex's "class" where Rex talks about how to dress for success, Napoleon starts wearing red, white and blue jams. No one mentions it or points it out in any way in the film; it's just a thing he does. Also Kit looking forlornly at his half-prepared, uncooked nachos as Napoleon tries to talk him into bringing him Chapstick.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:12 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
posted by oneirodynia at 3:12 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
Love this movie, and was looking forward to making a really pithy comment in the discussion. Like how MeFi favorite Roger Ebert totally blew the review (Darn!). Or how the movie isn’t for everyone, just like cilantro (Darn again!). So I guess I will use my mad posting skills to point out this bit of trivia: And Aaron Ruell’s brother really did buy a time machine on eBay one time that looked just like that [and] did not work.. So much for killing Hitler, I guess.
Now off to post ”VOTE FOR PEDRO” in the presidential debate thread.
posted by TedW at 3:19 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
Now off to post ”VOTE FOR PEDRO” in the presidential debate thread.
posted by TedW at 3:19 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
"if you're hungry, then make yourself a kay-sa-dill-a"
a dang kay-sa-dill-a.
posted by busted_crayons at 3:22 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
a dang kay-sa-dill-a.
posted by busted_crayons at 3:22 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
I sing this to myself from time to time:
Yes, I still love technology. But not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology. Always and forever.
posted by oflinkey at 4:37 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
Yes, I still love technology. But not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology. Always and forever.
posted by oflinkey at 4:37 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
Sing or Swim nailed it. This movie is there to celebrate its characters. Full stop.
Napoleon Dynamite is such a unique experience. On the one hand, it feels like a time capsule and could be set in the 70s, but then there is a subplot that involves internet dating. Everything feels so anachronistic.
Watching Napoleon Dynamite the first time was kind of disorienting for me, like looking peering through a two-way mirror into some alternate reality (i.e. Idaho), and that made me appreciate how everyone on the film (including, or maybe especially, the characters who think they are the normal ones) are interlopers in their own lives. I don't think any other film reached me in quite the same way, which is saying a lot.
Also, has it really been 20 years??? Yikes.
Also also, shout out to Rex Kwon Do: "Bow to your sensei!"
Now I want some tots.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 5:00 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
Napoleon Dynamite is such a unique experience. On the one hand, it feels like a time capsule and could be set in the 70s, but then there is a subplot that involves internet dating. Everything feels so anachronistic.
Watching Napoleon Dynamite the first time was kind of disorienting for me, like looking peering through a two-way mirror into some alternate reality (i.e. Idaho), and that made me appreciate how everyone on the film (including, or maybe especially, the characters who think they are the normal ones) are interlopers in their own lives. I don't think any other film reached me in quite the same way, which is saying a lot.
Also, has it really been 20 years??? Yikes.
Also also, shout out to Rex Kwon Do: "Bow to your sensei!"
Now I want some tots.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 5:00 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
Get your own tots!
posted by Windopaene at 5:11 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 5:11 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]
In my house I call this movie our Idaho innoculation. I was born in Blackfoot ID (about 80 miles north of where Napoleon was filmed) but live on the East coast with my East Coast husband. I was amazed when he didn't hate the movie. We watch it whenever we go out west to visit family.
posted by jenjenc at 6:15 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
posted by jenjenc at 6:15 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
I'm 78. I graduated HS 60 years ago.
There isn't a minute of the movie I didn't enjoy. I'm surprised that so many people didn't like it.
Gosh.
posted by Repack Rider at 6:35 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
There isn't a minute of the movie I didn't enjoy. I'm surprised that so many people didn't like it.
Gosh.
posted by Repack Rider at 6:35 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
This came out a week ago on Jimmy Kimmel: Napoleon Dynamite’s 20th High School Reunion - Sponsored by Ore-Ida. Voiceover near the end leads to this. Will it be available one day?
posted by Seboshin at 6:40 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
posted by Seboshin at 6:40 PM on June 28 [2 favorites]
It wasn't a great film, but it was interesting. Nacho Libre was superior.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:02 PM on June 29
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:02 PM on June 29
>there is no such thing as "laughing at somebody in a non-mean way." To be laughed at is to suffer cruelty;
To be clear, I got picked on as a kid too and have never made peace with it, and I'm not one for laughing at people. But we're talking about fictional characters here; they are incapable of suffering, and what the movie invites you to do is recognize yourself in them, and laugh about something about yourself, and about everybody, that you might not be able to see clearly otherwise, because of the way we long to take ourselves seriously. For me, anyway, the movie invites not only recognition, but affectionate recognition; it takes a bunch of people I remember from middle school, many of whom I do NOT remember fondly, and says "yeah, but what if they were like this". I stand by my assessment: this is not a mean-spirited movie--quite the contrary. But of course YMMV.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 3:13 PM on June 29 [2 favorites]
To be clear, I got picked on as a kid too and have never made peace with it, and I'm not one for laughing at people. But we're talking about fictional characters here; they are incapable of suffering, and what the movie invites you to do is recognize yourself in them, and laugh about something about yourself, and about everybody, that you might not be able to see clearly otherwise, because of the way we long to take ourselves seriously. For me, anyway, the movie invites not only recognition, but affectionate recognition; it takes a bunch of people I remember from middle school, many of whom I do NOT remember fondly, and says "yeah, but what if they were like this". I stand by my assessment: this is not a mean-spirited movie--quite the contrary. But of course YMMV.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 3:13 PM on June 29 [2 favorites]
Huh. I knew characters like those in the movie growing up primarily in (rural and small town) New England. I certainly believe folks who say that it's particularly Mormon or particularly Idaho - no doubt there are cultural details there that just didn't come across as notable or significant to me, so went over my head. But there are also more universal details.
I also did not find the film to be cringe, nor thought we were supposed to be laughing with (let alone laughing at) the main characters. Some of the other characters, sure (the uncle, for example). But I found it to be a sweet story that seemed to portray its main characters with understanding and compassion - as well as some of the self awareness that we gain about our teenage selves with time.
These other interpretations do certainly help explain why some folks don't like the movie. I always assumed it was just because they weren't dorks or nerds themselves growing up, and didn't find the characters realistic because they were outside of their own experience (which was a complaint about the movie voiced to me by one person that I guess I somewhat subconsciously universalized).
posted by eviemath at 3:59 PM on June 29
I also did not find the film to be cringe, nor thought we were supposed to be laughing with (let alone laughing at) the main characters. Some of the other characters, sure (the uncle, for example). But I found it to be a sweet story that seemed to portray its main characters with understanding and compassion - as well as some of the self awareness that we gain about our teenage selves with time.
These other interpretations do certainly help explain why some folks don't like the movie. I always assumed it was just because they weren't dorks or nerds themselves growing up, and didn't find the characters realistic because they were outside of their own experience (which was a complaint about the movie voiced to me by one person that I guess I somewhat subconsciously universalized).
posted by eviemath at 3:59 PM on June 29
I didn't see this when it came out and finally saw that it was available on streaming... and stopped watching partway through, around the time that the uncle is being especially egregious in exploiting the brothers. That was very unpleasant to watch, and I had other things that I would rather be watching.
On the other hand, I thought that the Rex Kwon Do thing was a perfect summation of every bad martial arts instructor that I've ever had or seen--and there have been a few--and the movie in general brutally honest about the reality of small-town life; the only other movie that I've seen recently that gets it is Red Rocket, albeit with a protagonist about the exact opposite extreme from Napoleon. I might go back and finish it, some day.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:14 PM on June 29
On the other hand, I thought that the Rex Kwon Do thing was a perfect summation of every bad martial arts instructor that I've ever had or seen--and there have been a few--and the movie in general brutally honest about the reality of small-town life; the only other movie that I've seen recently that gets it is Red Rocket, albeit with a protagonist about the exact opposite extreme from Napoleon. I might go back and finish it, some day.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:14 PM on June 29
I think the biggest issue for me is I just didn't find it funny. For whatever reason, the jokes didn't land for me. It felt kind of amateurish to me in a bad way. But I get that there are lots of folks who like it.
posted by MythMaker at 10:38 PM on June 29
posted by MythMaker at 10:38 PM on June 29
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