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</script></div>{/googleAds}Napoleon Dynamite... dud or plenty of bang for your buck, you decide. Either way you see it, Napoleon Dynamite is bound to be a cult-classic before long, due to the vivid characters and memorable quotes that Director Jared Hess has laid out for us. That said, I hardly recommend this movie to everyone who enjoys a good indie comedy some people won't get it. But to those of you who grew up with sci-fi games, insane relatives, chat rooms, low self-esteem, public high school, a rural community, or had friends as a teen who only knew "hip" as a body part, go see this movie.. right now! For the most part, Napoleon Dynamite is a typical teen comedy spoof about an ill-fitting, delusional teenage boy trying to live his life in a small Idaho town. The movie rolls through various cuts of comical situations that surround his family, friends, foes and his own sweet skills. You shouldn't expect a well-developed plot, a moral to the story, or even a common theme.. unless mundane can be considered so. What you should expect however, is to be warmly entertained, experience moments of reflection back upon your own geekish moments of yester-years, and to gush forth at least a chuckle a minute (which is 82 if you're counting.. GOSH!). Simply put, I loved this film. And since it revolves solely around the characters, so shall this review.

Napoleon Dynamite (played by Jon Heder), sets your tongue firmly in cheek
from the moment you see him. He's a tall, four-eyed, gangly, red afro'd geek, who wears pegasus t-shirts, has high-water pants and some sweet moon boots. Poor Napoleon lives with his grandma and older brother Kip in a semi-rural house in Preston, Idaho. And somewhere within his trials, tribulations, drawings, milk tastings, need for chapstick, Gatorade chugging and sweet dance moves.. you will either take a liking to him or want to pound Napoleon against the lockers like the rest of the bullies.

Napoleon's brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) takes geekdom to a whole new, creepy level. Not only is he in his 30's and living at home, but he has greasy hair, wears glasses that give him a Bill Gates"ish" look, has braces, a bad lisp, and stays home and eats chips while spending hours on his computer chatting with "serious babes" in Internet chatrooms. Besides, everyone knows he's training to be a cage fighter.

The brothers' grandma (Sandy Martin) makes an early exit from the film after she takes off on a mysterious trip, only to land herself in the hospital over an ATV incident in the sand dunes.

Unfortunately for them, this means that Uncle Rico (Jon Gries), who "would have taken State back in '82 if the coach would have only put him in", moves in to watch over the boys. A splendid character, Uncle Rico is a portrait of self-fascination who consequently eats their steaks, sells tupperware and breast enhancement products, buys a time machine on the Internet and makes videotapes of himself throwing the football to relive his never-was glory
days.

As the movie progresses, Napoleon finds a friend in the new slow-speaking kid at school, Pedro (Efren Ramirez). Pedro, who is the only student who can grow a moustache, is a shining co-star in this movie as he makes his run at class president. And at some point in the midst of him shaving his head, "building" a cake to ask the hottest girl in the school out to prom, making a pinata of his election opponent, and having a sweet bike with pegs and a Mexican flag on it, it hits you.. wait a minute, I remember Pedro.. he was Speedy Gonzalez's cousin! The resemblance is uncanny, but then again, that Pedro never "offered you his
protection".

Meanwhile, fellow gal geek Deb (Tina Majorino) provides glamour shots of our guys, sells boondoggle keychains for college, makes her own dresses and wears a one-sided ponytail. While not as comical as the rest of the gang, this works for the audience as she does provide some balance and well-needed film bouyancy at times when you fear the story might begin faltering with too many whacky characters in one cast.

Other memorable appearances include:LaFawnduh - Kip's Internet jungle-love girlfriend who arrives for a visit from Detroit. She also does a number on him and transforms him into a super fly, dew rag wearin' playa with a little bling-bling. Is there a jab here at Eminem? Or a similarity to Bringing Down the House? I thought so, but you be the judge.Tina - The family llama who eats left-overs. Napoleon hates her.Rex - The founder of Rex Kwan Do, a hilarious must-see bit of this movie. Part played by Diedrich Bader (Drew Carey Show, Office Space, etc).Summer - The requisite hot chick (Haylie Duff), that like in all nerd movies, we learn to hate because she's self-centered and will ultimately fall to the power of the geeks.

Be it the characters, the comedy, or the sweet skills, somehow Jared Hess makes this movie work. The many farcical moments in this film play out one after another, culminating in the marriage of Kip and LaFawnduh.. which seems an odd end to a tale mostly about Napoleon. Regardless, this movie was pure joy. And if you want a couple of extra laughs (Heck yes!), stick around until after the credits, for a bit more of the story. To me, any movie that you leave and quite continuously over the days thereafter, is a winner. All in all, Napoleon Dynamite is a refreshing film that is quickly headed to cult-classic status.. but I already told you that like infinity times, GOSH!!

Single Guy Cliff Notes: Guys, if you're dating a gal who loves guffawing comedy and is say, between 20 and 40, this is a good one for you. It's not littered with potty humor, it's not mushy or intellectual, it won't offend anyone, it's just a good, clean story about a geek getting by. And guaranteed, it will give you plenty to laugh about later. And if you're daring, try the ?milk? line on her..

DVD Details:

Screen formats: Widescreen 1.85:1

Subtitles: English; Spanish; French.

Language and Sound: English: Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; audio commentary; deleted scenes; making-of featurette; production stills; trailer.

* Commentaries:
o 1. With director Jared Hess, actor John Heder, and producer Jeremy Coon.
* Featurettes:

o Wedding of the Century - Making-of featurette
o MTV On-air Promos
+ 3 Easy Steps Napoleon
+ 3 Easy Steps Napoleon 2
+ 3 Easy Steps Pedro
+ 3 Easy Steps Uncle Rico
+ 3 Easy Steps Deb
+ Fishing
+ Liger vs. Tigon
* Deleted/Additional Scenes (with optional commentaries)
o 2nd Locker Room Scene
o Pedro Holy Chip Flashback
o Extended thrift Store Scene and La Tienda Lotto Ticket
o Kickball Scene with Pedro and Napoleon and Pedro Montage
* Trailer: Arrested Development
* Soundtrack Promo
* Still Photo Gallery

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Number of discs: 1 double sided disc

Packaging: Keep case

{pgomakase}