Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

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Written by Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess

Directed by Jared Hess

Running Time: 95 minutes (approx)

Production Year: 2004

Rating: PG Certificate

Production Country: USA

Filmed in Colour

Jared Hess's high-school comedy stars Jon Heder as the eponymous Napoleon Dynamite, who is on the lowest rung of the nerd ladder - even his best (and only) friend Pedro Sanchez (Efren Ramirez) beats him to a date for the high-school dance. But when Pedro asks Napoleon to be his campaign manager for the school election, how can he refuse? Napoleon's home life is equally strange: his brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), whose waking hours are spent online in chat rooms, and his uncle Rico (Jon Gries), who is stuck in 1982, are his only relatives.

The film doesn't have a plot as such. Napoleon's home life is seen in vignettes, with his uncle determined to build a time machine he bought off the internet to travel back to his youth, and his dune-buggy racing grandmother laid up after a bad crash, but the approaching school election and the dance provide the hooks for the action to move forward. Depending on the point of view, Napoleon is either a tragic figure doomed to a life of mediocrity or an unsung hero for nerds everywhere, but one thing Hess's film does deliver are surreal laughs from the left-field.

Cast

Image for Jon HederJon HederNapoleon Dynamite
Jon GriesUncle Rico
Aaron RuellKip
Efren RamirezPedro Sanchez
Image for Diedrich BaderDiedrich BaderRex
Tina MajorinoDeb
Sandy MartinGrandma
Haylie DuffSummer
Trevor SnarrDon
Shondrella AveryLaFawnduh Lucas
Bracken JohnsonRandy
Carmen BradyStarla
Ellen DubinIlene
J.C. CunninghamJock
James SmoothJock No. 2

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