Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jared Hess
Written by	Jared Hess Jerusha Hess
Produced by	Jeremy Coon Sean Covel Chris Wyatt
Starring	Jon Heder Efren Ramirez Tina Majorino Aaron Ruell Jon Gries
Cinematography	Munn Powell
Edited by	Jeremy Coon
Music by	John Swihart
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures Paramount Pictures MTV Films
Release dates	June 11, 2004 (limited) August 27, 2004
Running time	95 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$400,001
Box office	$46,118,097

Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 American independent comedy film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as the eponymous character, Napoleon Dynamite. The film was Jared Hess's first full-length feature and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca.

Napoleon Dynamite was filmed in and near Preston, Idaho, in the summer of 2003. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004. In June 2004 it was given a limited release. Its wide release followed in August. The film's total domestic gross was US $44.5 million. Considering its budget of US $400,000, Napoleon Dynamite was a huge success, grossing over one hundred times its production cost. The film is rated PG by the MPAA and by the television content rating system in the United States.

It is often considered by many to be a cult film due to its large and loyal fanbase.

Plot

Napoleon Dynamite is a gawky high school student from Template:City-state who lives with his grandmother, his elder brother Kip and their pet llama, Tina.

Kip (Aaron Ruell) is unemployed, 32-years-old and boasts of spending hours in Internet chat rooms with 'babes' and training to be a cage fighter. Napoleon daydreams his way through school, doodling fantastic magical creatures, and being bullied. Grandma is admitted to a hospital after her coccyx is broken during a dune riding accident while visiting friends.

Believing her grandsons cannot be trusted to look after themselves, she asks Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) to stay with them while she recovers. Uncle Rico is a middle-aged former high-school quarterback who lives in an orange 1975 Dodge Santana campervan and is stuck in the year 1982 (a fact which caused a breakup with his girlfriend). His presence, although increasingly irksome to Napoleon, is a boon to Kip as he and Uncle Rico embark on a joint project to become door-to-door salesmen selling a Tupperware-like product. Kip reveals that he would like to earn some money to enable him to meet his new Internet girlfriend from Detroit, LaFawnduh Lucas (Shondrella Avery). Uncle Rico is not averse to using Napoleon's name to gain credibility in his attempts to sell herbal breast-enhancement products to Napoleon's school mates, causing increasing friction between Uncle Rico and Napoleon.

As the plot progresses, Napoleon makes two new friends from high school, Deb and Pedro. Deb (Tina Majorino) is a shy and sensitive girl who seems to take a liking to Napoleon. The two have a fight however, when Uncle Rico attempts to sell her breast-enhancement herbs and implies that Napoleon suggested it. Pedro (Efren Ramirez) is a transfer student from Juarez, Mexico, who promptly decides to run for class president against popular girl Summer Wheatley (Haylie Duff). Despite a couple of hiccups, the campaign goes well right up until the time Pedro is just about to deliver his final speech at which time he realizes that each candidate has to perform a skit afterward. Having not prepared any such routine, a despondent Pedro gives a short speech believing that his candidacy is over. However, Napoleon displays uncharacteristic quick wit by giving a music tape he had received from the visiting LaFawnduh to the sound engineer and performing a well-rehearsed, energetic dance routine, which wins a standing ovation from the school audience.

The film closes out with a montage of scenes showing a happy ending for all concerned. Pedro wins the class presidency. LaFawnduh, smitten with Kip right from the start, transforms his fashion, and they leave town together. A fully recovered Grandma returns and has clearly missed Tina, the llama, more than her grandchildren. Uncle Rico's girlfriend, who is mentioned earlier in the movie when Rico and Kip are eating lunch, returns to Rico and his van, as well. And finally, Napoleon is playing tether ball by himself until Deb shows up and starts playing with him, having forgiven her friend.

A post credits scene reveals Kip and LaFawnduh getting married.

Cast

• Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite: The film's protagonist, is a rather clumsy teenager who enjoys mundane diversions such as drawing, playing tetherball and hip-hop dancing and is apparently bad at all of them. He regularly boasts about his 'skills' with weapons such as nunchucks (which he calls "numchucks") and bostaffs plus knowing all the "illegal ninja moves from the government." He wears vintage t-shirts tucked into waist-high beltless jeans, black moon boots and steel-rimmed glasses. He is active in the FFA and his school's sign language club (the "Happy Hands Club").
• Efren Ramirez as Pedro Sanchez: A new student to Preston High, originally from Juarez, Mexico. He becomes Napoleon's best friend and his campaign for class president is one of the main plot points in the film.
• Tina Majorino as Deborah "Deb": Napoleon's schoolfriend and love interest. She goes door-to-door selling "Deb's Glamor Shots" and homemade boondoggle keychains, "a must-have for this season's fashion". Deb seems to be the most articulate character among the three friends in the film.
• Aaron Ruell as Kip Dynamite: Napoleon's wimpy older brother. His full name is revealed at the wedding as "Kipland Ronald Dynamite."
• Jon Gries as Uncle Rico: Napoleon and Kip's Uncle, who lives in a field in his camper van. He played football in high school ("back in '82"), and desires to live in the past. He is often seen filming himself passing footballs to nobody for no apparent reason. Rico longs to go back in time and change his fortune, even buying a "time machine" from the Internet in an attempt to return to 1982. He fervently believes he had the potential to be a star quarterback in the National Football League, if only his coach had played him in the 4th quarter of the championship game, which he is sure he could have won for his team. Despite acting like a jock and adopting a condescending attitude, in reality he is just as geeky as Napoleon and Kip. His intention is to make money using unorthodox methods and placing the blame on Napoleon. However, toward the end, he eventually learned his lesson after getting beat up by the local martial arts teacher for selling herbal breast enhancers to his body-building wife.
• Sandy Martin as Grandma: Napoleon and Kip's grandmother who is taken to the hospital from a dune-buggy accident.
• Haylie Duff as Summer Wheatley: The popular girl at Napoleon's school. She runs for class president against Pedro.
• Trevor Snarr as Don: Summer's jock boyfriend.
• Bracken Johnson as Randy: Kid who regularly bullies Napoleon at school.
• Shondrella Avery as LaFawnduh Lucas: Kip's girlfriend and later wife, whom he meets online.
• Diedrich Bader as Rex: Local martial arts instructor and founder of the "Rex Kwon Do" self defence system.
• Carmen Brady as Starla: Rex's bodybuilder wife.
• Connor Van Blaricom as Carlos Martinez : ,makes a special appearance in the crowd during Napolean's dance

Background

Setting

Preston is a real town in southeastern Idaho, located near the Utah border. Since the release of Napoleon Dynamite, it has become a tourist attraction of sorts, with Preston High School being a main feature. Also with its premiere in 2004, Preston has held a Napoleon Dynamite Festival every summer to celebrate the filming of Napoleon Dynamite in Preston and nearby towns. In April 2005, the Idaho Legislature approved a resolution commending the filmmakers for producing Napoleon Dynamite, specifically enumerating the benefits the movie has brought to Idaho, as well as for showcasing various aspects of Idaho's culture and economy. Part of the film is filmed in Calhan, Colorado, a small town that is about 40 miles (64 km) east of Colorado Springs.

Origin of the name "Napoleon Dynamite"

Upon the film's release, it was noted that the name "Napoleon Dynamite" had originally been used by musician Elvis Costello, most visibly on his 1986 album Blood and Chocolate, although he had used the pseudonym on a single B-side as early as 1982. Filmmaker Jared Hess claims that he was not aware of Costello's use of the name until two days before the end of shooting, when he was informed by a teenage extra. He later said, "Had I known that name was used by anybody else prior to shooting the whole film, it definitely would have been changed ... I listen to hip-hop, dude. It's a pretty embarrassing coincidence." Hess claims that "Napoleon Dynamite" was the name of a man he met around the year 2000 on the streets of Cicero, Illinois while doing missionary work for the Mormon Church.

Costello believes that Hess stole the name: "The guy just denies completely that I made the name up... but I invented it. Maybe somebody told him the name and he truly feels that he came about it by chance. But it's two words that you're never going to hear together." To date, Costello has taken no legal action against the film.

Reaction

The film currently has a 70% "fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice praised the film as "an epic, magisterially observed pastiche on all-American geek-hood, flooring the competition with a petulant shove." Prominent film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 1½ stars, noting that he felt that "the movie makes no attempt to make [Napoleon] likable" and that it contained "a kind of studied stupidity that sometimes passes as humor".

References in other works

• Jon Heder reprised his role as Napoleon Dynamite for a special spoof video made exclusively for Microsoft, featuring Bill Gates. The video, titled "Bill Gates Goes to College", was shown at Microsoft's Professional Developer's Conference in 2005. It was also shown when Bill Gates visited the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, on October 13, 2005. Heder also reprised his role on Late Show with David Letterman to read the Top Ten list of "Signs You're Not the Most Popular Guy in Your High School" the day of the DVD release.
• In 2005, ice cream makers Ben & Jerry's unveiled a new flavor entitled "Neapolitan Dynamite", a pun on the film's title.
• The New York Mets used the phrase "Vote for Pedro" to encourage fans to fill out All-Star ballots in 2005 for Mets players such as pitcher Pedro Martínez. It should be noted that fans only vote for position players; pitchers are selected by the All-Star managers. The San Francisco Giants also staged a similar campaign for utility infielder-outfielder Pedro Feliz, who was not eligible for the ballot because he did not regularly play any one position.
• It is well-known that current Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Felipe Lopez always wears a "Vote for Pedro" shirt underneath his jersey during games.
• Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez reprised their roles in a Robot Chicken sketch entitled "Napoleon Bonamite", in which Napoleon acts in a similar manner Napoleon I of France.
• Brie Larson parodies Napoleon Dynamite in her video for the song "She Said". He is seen saying "God!" although Napoleon uses the word "Gosh!" many times in the movie.
• Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez reprised their roles in a series of commercials for the 150th Utah State Fair in 2005.
• Angry Alien Productions parody the film in their 30-second "bunnified" sketch.
• Several musicians have songs named after the movie, including KJ-52, The Hussy's, and Mos Def.
• The film is referenced in the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", an episode of That's So Raven, the opening scene of Date Movie, the Canadian animated show Total Drama Island, the Kids WB cartoon Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!, the Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends episode "Cheese A Go-Go", an episode of George Lopez, the episode "The Fifth and a Half Sense" of Canadian cartoon Being Ian, by Emma in an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation, and the Family Guy episode "Love Blactually".
• The Blood Elf's Dance on "World of Warcraft" is a reference to the infamous dance scene.
• The Ritualist Dance on "Guild Wars" is a reference to the infamous dance scene.
• When Heder hosted Saturday Night Live, some of his friends (who resembled the characters in the film) questioned if the film was based on them (performed as a skit).
• Efren Ramirez was in a parody on George Lopez, and talks about winning the election for secretary, and he gives a cake to Carmen who he calls "Carmel".

Awards

• Best Feature Film at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival the same year. The film's budget was only $400,000. When the film rights were sold to a major distributor, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox supplied additional funds for the post-credits scene.
• In 2005, it won three MTV Movie Awards, for Breakthrough Male Performance, Best Musical Performance, and Best Movie. This film is number 14 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
• It won the 2005 Golden Trailer Awards for Best Comedy.
• It won the 2005 Golden Satellite Award for Best Original Score (John Swihart).
• Four awards at the Teen Choice Awards. Best Movie Breakout Performance - Female for Haylie Duff, Best Movie Dance Scene, Best Movie Hissy Fit for Jon Heder, and Best Comedy.
• The 2004 Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Feature.

Soundtrack

Main article: Napoleon Dynamite original soundtrack

An asterisk(*) denotes a song that is not in the soundtrack album.

• "We're Going to Be Friends" by The White Stripes*
• "The A-Team Theme"
• "Forever Young" by Alphaville
• "Larger Than Life" by Backstreet Boys*
• "Design" by Fiction Company
• "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai
• "So Ruff, So Tuff" by Zapp and Roger*
• "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper (covered by Sparkle Motion on soundtrack)
• "The Rose" by Bette Midler*
• "Light in Your Eyes" by Sheryl Crow*
• "Music for a Found Harmonium" by Simon Jeffes (covered by Patrick Street)*
• "The Promise" by When in Rome

See also

• Peluca
• Napoleon Dynamite Festival
• Napoleon Dynamite: The Game

External links

• Official site
• Napoleon Dynamite at IMDb
• Napoleon Dynamite at AllMovie
• Napoleon Dynamite at Box Office Mojo
• Napoleon Dynamite at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Idaho Legislature's citation praising the film