Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 comedy film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as the title 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 acquired at the Sundance Film Festival by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with MTV Films. It was filmed in and near Franklin County, 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 worldwide gross revenue was $46,140,956.[3] The film has since developed a cult following.
Plot
Napoleon Dynamite is an eccentric high school student from Preston, Idaho who lives with his grandmother, his older brother Kip, and their pet llama, Tina. Kip, 32, is currently unemployed and boasts of spending hours in internet chat rooms with "babes" and training to be a cage fighter; their grandmother leads a secret life involving mysterious boyfriends and quad biking in the desert. Napoleon daydreams his way through school, doodling ligers and fantasy creatures, while reluctantly dealing with the assorted bullies who frequently torment him. To make himself appear more interesting and dangerous than he is, Napoleon frequently makes up fantastic stories about himself and responds to benign questions with unprovoked anger.
Napoleon's grandmother breaks her coccyx in a quad-bike accident and believing her grandsons cannot be trusted to look after themselves, asks their Uncle Rico to look after them while she recovers. Rico, a middle-aged former athlete who lives in a campervan, uses the opportunity to team up with Kip in a get rich quick scheme to sell various items door-to-door. Kip wants money in order to visit his internet girlfriend, LaFawnduh, while Rico believes that riches will help him get over his failed dreams of NFL stardom and the loss of his girlfriend.
Napoleon becomes friends with two students at his school: Deb, a shy girl who runs various small businesses to finance her college career; and Pedro, a transfer student from Juarez. The three quickly develop a close friendship as the school's outcasts and begin spending all of their time together. Inspired by a poster at the school dance, Pedro decides to run for class president, pitting him against Summer Wheatley, a popular girl who dates Napoleon's primary bully.
Rico and Kip's scheme causes friction with Napoleon when Rico begins spreading embarrassing rumors about Napoleon in order to generate sympathy in his customers. Tensions finally come to a head after Rico tries to sell Deb an "herbal breast-enhancement product," causing her to end her friendship with Napoleon. Rico is ultimately beaten up by the town's martial arts instructor after he mistakenly believes that Rico is making advances on his wife. Kip, meanwhile, raises the money to pay for LaFawnduh to visit him from Detroit. She gives Kip a makeover, outfitting him in hip hop regalia, and the two leave together to go back to Michigan.
On the day of the class president elections, Pedro gives an unimpressive speech before the student body. Sensing his friend is in trouble, Napoleon instructs the sound engineer to play a tape he received from the visiting LaFawnduh. Napoleon runs onstage, where he performs an elaborate dance routine to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai. The routine receives a standing ovation from everyone except for Summer and her boyfriend.
The film ends with each of the main character receiving a happy ending: Pedro becomes the class president; Rico is reunited with his estranged girlfriend; Grandma returns from the hospital; and Napoleon and Deb make up and play tetherball.
In a post-credits scene, Kip and LaFawnduh are married in an outdoor ceremony in Preston. Napoleon, absent for the vows, arrives riding a horse, claiming that it is a "wild honeymoon stallion" that he has tamed himself. After Deb photographs the new couple, Kip and LaFawnduh ride into the sunset.
Cast
The cast of
Napoleon Dynamite.
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 the high school being a main feature. Also since 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, but has not held one since 2008.
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.[4] According to the end credits, the film was shot entirely in the state of Idaho.
Opening sequence
The film was originally made without opening titles; audiences at test screenings were confused about when the film was set. Eight months after the film was complete, the title sequence was filmed in the cinematographer's basement.[5]
We actually had Jon Heder placing all the objects in and out [of frame], and then showed it to Searchlight who really liked it and thought it was great, but some lady over there was like "There are some hangnails, or something -- the hands look kinda gross! It's really bothering me, can we re-shoot some of those? We'll send you guys a hand model." We were like "WHAT?!" This of course was my first interaction with a studio at all, so they flew out a hand model a couple weeks later, who had great hands, but was five or six shades darker than Jon Heder. So we reshot, but they're now intermixed, so if you look there are like three different dudes' hands (our producer's are in there too.) It all worked out great though and was a lot of fun.
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 & Chocolate,[6][7] although he had used the pseudonym on a single B-side as early as 1982.[8] 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.[9] 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."[9] 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 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[10][11]
Costello believes that Hess got the name from him, whether directly or indirectly. Costello said, "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."[12] Costello has taken no legal action against the film.
Reception
While some reviews were mixed, the film received generally positive reviews; Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 71% "fresh" approval rating based on 163 reviews with an average score of 6.3 out of 10.[13] Rolling Stone magazine complimented the film, saying "Hess and his terrific cast — Heder is geek perfection — make their own kind of deadpan hilarity. You'll laugh till it hurts. Sweet."[14] The Christian Science Monitor called the film "a refreshing new take on the overused teen-comedy genre" and said that the film "may not make you laugh out loud - it's too sly and subtle for that - but it will have you smiling every minute, and often grinning widely at its weirded-out charm."[15] Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice condemned the film as "a movie, that despite all indications to the contrary, is one that absolutely no one likes."[16] In a mixed review, The New York Times praised Heder's performance and the "film's most interesting quality, which is its stubborn, confident, altogether weird individuality," while criticizing the film's resolution that comes "too easily."[17] Prominent film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half 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".[18] At the time, Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C-.[19]
Entertainment Weekly later placed Napoleon as #88 on its 2010 list of The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years, saying "A high school misfit found a sweet spot, tapping into our inner dork."[20] The film was on several year-end lists. Rolling Stone's placed it at number 22 of the 25 Top DVDs of 2004.[21]
Techdirt.com coined the term "The Napoleon Dynamite Problem", the phenomenon whereby "quirky" films such as Napoleon Dynamite, Lost in Translation, and I Heart Huckabees prove difficult for researchers to create algorithms that are able to predict whether or not a particular viewer will like the film based on their ratings of previously viewed films.[22]
Despite some mixed reviews and a very limited initial release, Napoleon Dynamite was a commercial success. It was filmed on an estimated budget of a mere $400,000, and less than a year after its release, it had grossed $44,940,956. It also spawned a slew of merchandise from refrigerator magnets to T-shirts to Halloween costumes. Probably the biggest boost was obtained from the `Vote for Pedro` t-shirts that coincided with the popularity of pitcher Pedro Martinez in 2004.
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, the film — itself an MTV Films production — won three MTV Movie Awards, for Breakthrough Male Performance, Best Musical Performance, and Best Movie. The film is #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
Animated series
In April 2010, it was revealed that an animated series was in the works. It was also revealed that the entire original cast will return to reprise their roles. This includes Jon Heder as Napoleon, Efren Ramirez as Pedro, Aaron Ruell as Kip, and Jon Gries as Uncle Rico.[23] The series debuted on Sunday, January 15, 2012. Director Jared Hess, his co-screenwriter wife Jerusha, and Mike Scully are the producers of the show, in association with 20th Century Fox Television.[24]
See also
References
- ^ "NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/BFF202326/. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
- ^ "NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 2004-09-07. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/AFF202326/. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Idaho's resolution commending Jared and Jerusha Hess
- ^ "A Q&A with director Jared Hess.". Art of the Title Sequence. http://www.artofthetitle.com/2010/08/30/napoleon-dynamite/. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
- ^ "Blood And Chocolate (reissue) - Elvis Costello And The Attractions". The Elvis Costello Home Page. http://www.elviscostello.info/disc/official/bac/bac_info_a02.htm.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374900/trivia
- ^ http://www.elviscostello.info/disc/official/ib/ib_info_s02.htm
- ^ a b Stereogum article: "Napoleon Dynamite Vs. Elvis Costello".
- ^ Willman, Chris (July 16, 2004). "Did Napoleon Dynamite Borrow Elvis' Alias?". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,662230,00.html.
- ^ "In 'Napoleon Dynamite,' Nerdity Without Shame". Washington Post. June 20, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52435-2004Jun18.html.
- ^ Contact Music article: "COSTELLO ADAMANT NAPOLEON DYNAMITE WAS HIS IDEA".
- ^ "Napoleon Dynamite". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/napoleon_dynamite/.
- ^ Travers, Peter (June 24, 2004), "Napoleon Dynamite (Film)". Rolling Stone. (951):186
- ^ Sterritt, David (June 11, 2004), "Revenge of the (Idaho) nerd in 'Napoleon Dynamite'". Christian Science Monitor. 96 (138)
- ^ Michael Atkinson (June 1, 2004). "Deadpan Walking. Welcome to the droll house: American geek hood finds a new icon in a clueless Idaho teen". Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0423,atkinson,54121,20.html.
- ^ SCOTT, A. O. (June 11, 2004), "FILM REVIEW; A Nerdy Nobody of a Hero Who Proves to Be Napoleonic." New York Times. :15
- ^ "Reviews :: Napoleon Dynamite". rogerebert.com (Chicago Sun Times). http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040618/REVIEWS/406180306/1023.
- ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (June 18, 2004), "NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (Film)". Entertainment Weekly. (770):60-63
- ^ (June 4, 2010), "88. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE". Entertainment Weekly. (1105/1106):90
- ^ (November 25, 2004), "Napoleon Dynamite (Film)". Rolling Stone (962):82
- ^ "The Napoleon Dynamite Problem Stymies Netflix Prize Competitors". Techdirt. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081123/1212542927.shtml.
- ^ "Fox Developing Napoleon Dynamite Animated Television Series". /Film. http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/05/15/fox-developing-napoleon-dynamite-animated-television-series.
- ^ Gorman, Bill (October 17, 2010). "Fox Announces Animated Comedies ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ & ‘Allen Gregory’ For Next Season". The Futon Critic. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/17/fox-announces-animated-comedies-napoleon-dynamite-allen-gregory-for-next-season/68343. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
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