Napoleon Dynamite

“I wish you would get out of my life and shut up, gosh!” Yep, another logging of Jared Hess’s masterpiece film. I don’t know what it is about Napoleon Dynamite that entices me to rewatch more than any of the other films in my top ten list, but here I am again sitting there watching. I saw a user on Reddit describe Napoleon Dynamite as “Wes Anderson-esque” and yet I don’t know if that’s a fair comparison. Partly, of course, because I’ve only seen Moonrise Kingdom years back and admittedly don’t remember much about it, and yet because I don’t think Hess is going for the same ideas in sets that Anderson would. Anderson - going off what I know, of course - uses brighter colors and fascinating and enhanced examples of costume and set design. Jared Hess, on the other hand, his sets and costume design are very plain. If anything, the two may be opposites. One of my favorite scenes that continues to grow on me is Kip and Napoleon trying out Uncle Rico’s time machine. Not only is it a funny scene, but it’s a poignant scene - Uncle Rico comes in after Napoleon declares the machine doesn’t work, he staggers in - and says “I could have told you that.” It’s a funny scene, of course, because like Napoleon Rico has also zapped himself in the nuts, but because of completely different motives. Napoleon wants to try it because time travel is a sick concept. Rico wants to try it because he’s trying to change his future, to become the football star he thinks he could have been. It’s the essence of his character. And I think that makes it a great scene. I almost feel stupid needing a rewatch to finally get it. EDIT: I also did the math on Napoleon making $120 in 5 seconds. Assuming a runtime of 1:34:54 (94:54, or 5,694 seconds), Napoleon would make $136,656. In today’s dollars that’s $220,014.71. For total clarity, Jon Heder was paid $1,000 for his role as Napoleon. Stark!