A Flippin' Sweet Movie That Sounds Like It's Been Picked Over By TBS

Back in the fall of 2004, my family took in an exchange student from Germany. Shortly into her stay, she and my brother went to see Napoleon Dynamite with a friend and invited me along. I accepted the invitation, eager for any opportunity for a bonding experience. So we got to the theater, watched the movie and waited outside for about an hour for my parents. We talked about all sorts of random shmoo, but we didn't say a word about the movie. None of us really knew what to say.

Napoleon Dynamite is an oddity. It's a triumph of independent film-making, having quickly achieved cult status as more and more teens and young adults cracked up over the antics of its strange characters and repeated their catch-phrases incessantly. Like so many other films before, it, Napoleon Dynamite is about an unpopular high school student who manages to make good. In this case, that student is beyond awkward. Hovering over the heads of his classmates, Napoleon (Jon Heder) glares out from behind thick glasses and under a mop of reddish curls, gritting his enormous teeth and spitting out vitriolic words at whoever crosses him. Almost every line is uttered with such agitated exaggeration that it seems he should be swearing up a storm. It's refreshing but jarring to note the lack of profanity; whenever he talks, I can't help but feel as though I'm watching a poorly dubbed movie on TBS. But then that is part of the movie's humor.

His manner of speaking is just so bizarre, as is everything else about him. He explodes periodically with "GOSH!". He emphasizes most statements with "pretty much", "freakin'" or "flippin'". He draws hideous hybrid creatures and practices "sweet" dance moves to corny '80s videos. He loves tater tots so much he stuffs them in a zippered pants pocket for later noshing. He bellows belligerently at his llama, builds a time machine and, when asked to regale the class with a current event, launches into a fanciful account involving explosives, the Loch Ness Monster and wizards.

Also strange is Pedro Sanchez (Efren Ramirez), the glassy-eyed new student whom Napoleon befriends after offering to show him the ropes at school. Pedro seems to spend his life in a daze, always looking bored, disinterested and utterly unengaged in the world around him. It's a surprise, then, when he decides to run for class president, but it sets us up for the nerds' inevitable shining moment. Deb (Tina Majorino, the only cast member I recognized) is a friend of both boys, though she associates more closely with Napoleon. She's very quiet and shy, but she seems to like Napoleon, and he has no objection to her, even wooing her with the ever-so-romantic observation that she's not fat, so she doesn't need to drink one percent milk.

And then there's his brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), a lisping wisp of a geek with thick glasses and a peach-fuzz mustache who spends virtually every minute of the day in front of the computer, often chatting with his dream girl, who turns out to be the robust, hip, polar opposite LaFawnduh Lucas (Shondrella Avery), who reminded me of Charlene in Bringing Down the House. There's also Uncle Rico (Jon Gries), a slimy shyster who Napoleon loathes, and Grandma (Sandy Martin), who's not in the movie much once she takes a nasty tumble while ATV-ing on some sand dunes.

They're all as quirky as can be, but Napoleon is the one commanding the audience's attention. We watch him in rapt fascination, wondering whether anyone could really be this awkward. He's so off-kilter, and there's such an aggressive manner about him, it's rather hard to fall in love with him. He's not as likable as Sam, Neil and Bill from Freaks and Geeks, Luke from Joan of Arcadia, Damian from Mean Girls, Matt from 13 Going on 30... But by the end of the movie, we can't help but like him a bit, despite the fact that he usually seems ready to bite someone's head off. And if nothing else, he provides plenty of amusing quotes to randomly incorporate into everyday conversation. I don't know if I'd quite call him "dynamite," but this movie boasts more sizzle than fizzle.