I dunno about Napoleon Dynamite. I am torn on that one.
I sorta liked it, I guess. That's about all I can commit to. I mean, people are calling The Life Aquatic pretentious- what does that make ND?
I didn't find it all that laugh-out-loud funny. I smirked a few times, and chuckled, but no genuine laughter.
And what did the filmmaker (forget the kid's name) want me to do- laugh at his characters because I feel superior to them? And they feel empathy/happiness for them? Does he really want me to think Napoleon and Pedro become heros overnight? Or even of they don't, that their 15 minutes of fame and heightened self-respect/self-esteem will do them any good in the long run? Kids are still going to think they're losers.
It seemed like a 90 minute exercise in tone and style more than anything else. And in that sense, it was pretty good. The characters all became "real" or "alive" to me, and were true to themselves throughout. The actors were really good too. And I loved the Pedro character. He was awesome. But that alone does not a good film make.
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