There have been countless films throughout the years featuring loveable losers who, during the course of the movie, gain a measure of confidence about themselves, learn some truth about existence, and find themselves the better for having endured the trials that the story put them through. Napoleon Dynamite, by contrast, features a loveable loser who doesn’t think himself a loser, doesn’t doubt for a second that he is great, and shrugs off all challenges and setbacks as nothing more than the collective foolishness of a world that doesn’t get it. At the end of the story, Napoleon is much the same, going about his business with an unflappable and admirable confidence in himself.
One of the most unassumingly funny films I’ve seen in years, Napoleon Dynamite succeeds because it is content to let its great title character simply exist in his own world, without forcing him toward any monumental revelations or insight. For the length of the film, Napoleon just is, and it is a delight to watch him.
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Twentieth Century Fox DVD
09 Feb 2005 1:57 AM | Submit Comment
