OK, question for those who didn't like it. What are your thoughts on Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums; movies which can be similarly deadpan and comedically self-contained? So far, everyone I've talked to who hated Napoleon Dynamite also didn't enjoy or hated these movies as well.

Haven't seen the other two. Sorry.

Then quickly go see them and report back! :D

Sold out at Best Buy last Tuesday night, had to go to three stores to get it for my fiancee for Christmas. We love it and haven't been able to stop quoting it since we first saw it in October.

How long did it take you to grow that mustache?

I am in the camp that loved ND but hated Royal Tenebaums and Rushmore (maybe hate is too strong of a word).


BTW: Just b/c you say you weren't a dork in highschool doesn't make it true.

The sad thing is I grew up in Salt Lake City and went to college in Logan (2 hours north of SLC). Logan is about 30 minutes south of Preston, ID, where the movie was filmed.

Being a member of the LDS church (Mormons), just about everyone of my friends (in and out of Utah) have seen this movie and we are quite divided on it. There are some who love it and quote it all the time, and some of us who watched it to see what the hype was about and wished we hadn't. For example, my sister-in-law and her friends saw it about 5 times in the theater and loved it, but my brother-in-law saw it once and that was enough.

But it was fun to see my wife's best friend's little brother in the movie. He was in the scene in the locker room where Napoleon was talking to the blonde jock kid. He was the kid on the right. His name is Jordan, but in the credits they list his little brother's name (Preston). We had a good laugh at that.

BTW: I have friends that talked like that in high school, and some still do.

Rushmore was one of the best films of 1998. Royal Tenenbaums was very good, performances were excellent even if there were a few too many characters. Napolean Dynamite is the biggest sham of 2004.

What was it about Napolean Dynamite that you thought was a sham? I can understand if you just didn't like it, but I think calling it a sham is a bit harsh. It makes it sound like the rest of us who enjoyed it were tricked somehow.

don't have time at the moment but I'll give my reasons at some point. Here's an excerpt from Roger Ebert's review:


There is a kind of studied stupidity that sometimes passes as humor, and Jared Hess' Napoleon Dynamite pushes it as far as it can go.

I'm told the movie was greeted at Sundance with lots of laughter, but then Sundance audiences are concerned with being cool, and to sit through this film in depressed silence would not be cool, however urgently it might be appropriate.

I'm am very interested in your thoughts about why you didn't like it.

I'll tell you why I did like it, since I have nothing but time tonight. I liked it because it was so absurd; the characters and situations were so completely odd and non-sequitur. I liked it because it was so proudly different and didn't try to become something obvious or cliched, just like the main character. The milk-tasting scene alone had me holding my sides in laughter, because it was so random and silly.

A friend of mine, who saw the movie in the theaters and absolutely hated it, told me he hated it because essentially it was too odd and was being odd for no reason, which seems to be part of Ebert's problem with it. Personally, I don't have a problem with a movie trying to be different or random, as long as it is consistent with it.

Ebert seemed to try to take the film too seriously, like he was searching for its "message" or something and was troubled that he either couldn't find it or didn't understand it. To me, the film really had no point, other than to tell a really odd story about really odd people. I think the fact that it took place in high school, when most people are at the pinnacle of being uncomfortable and immature, probably made the movie seem sweeter to me. It reminded me a lot of Red Hot American Summer, which I also thought was hilarious, which had a lot of ridiculous random events loosely tied to a plot line.

Saw it yesterday. Very funny movie IMO. Don't understand all of the backlash it is starting to receive.

Rented in the other night. This movie is so funny. Does it have a message? no. Does it have a plot? basically no. I just laugh my ass off though evertime I see the characters or they talk. I liked that it was trying to be weird. It worked for me. If you saw Napoleon Dynamite on Letterman doing the top 10, then I'm like Letterman and I just start to crack up when I see him. I can't help it. I guess I wouldn't recommend this movie for everyone, but it defintely has it's audience.

Didn't like it at all. It’s all attitude and no sincerity.

Huh?

The main problem for me with Napoleon Dynamite was that there was no story. It was just a collection of events and setups of silly situations. The first couple times he says "gosh!", "idiot!" "lucky!" are funny, but that gets pretty old fast.

Loved this movie. I watched it with my brother and we both laughed throughout. Our wives were looking at us like we were nuts.

Loved Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, didn't care for Napoleon Dynamite. I felt it was trying too hard to be quirky. The lack of a story didn't help, either.

Easily the best movie of 2004.

Uh-oh, grumpy baby needs a nap.

Sorry dude, I was just voicing my opinion, not trying to impress you. Get over it.

I enjoyed ND, and loved Rushmore, Bottlerocket, Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic. Also Swingers, Fletch, and Made. I think these are some of the funniest films ever, however, I know people who didn't get a single laugh. Its a different kind of humor.

It's a slow drawn-out type of humor that you can't explain. But I think it is more sincere than normal Hollywood humor. I know people like ND, they talk and act just like him; they act like every single thing you ask them is a pain in their ass, and blatantly lie about stuff, thinking that you believe it.
I love some mainstream Hollywood comedies, but they are Hollywood, bigger than life comedies. Even though Indy comedies are often surreal, they are grounded in telling a story about a character rooted in real life. Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic, Swingers, Fletch, and Made (sorry I haven't seen bottle rocket) are like this too. The situation may be "out-there," but I know people like the characters in everyone of those movies.
My wife-to-be hates every movie I just mentioned and it drives me crazy. But some people just don't like this type of humor, I don't know if they don't identify with it or what, but some people just hate it. There is no use arguing...

The kind of humor that's funny if you're drunk, or just very easily amused.

Starting?

Well I'm not easily amused nor have I ever been drunk or high, yet I found this to be the funniest movie of the year, I even enjoyed it more than The Life Aquatic. I've probably watched it 10 times, and it has yet to get old, and in fact as only gotten better with each viewing. I keep finding little things here and there that I missed.

May I add, and I've probably said this before, that I see no real reason to compare this to Wes Anderson movies, other than they are all off-kilter with a bit of a retro look.

I think the movie is great, lots of dry humor, more realistic than many of the teen flicks that come out now-a-days.