WTF movie of the week - Napoleon Dynamite

Were you the geekiest of the geeks at college? A misfit among misfits? Did you identify with Harvey Pekar's geeky friends in American Splendor? Did you think Revenge of the Nerds was slick Hollywood crap? Well, do I have the movie for you! Napoleon Dynamite!

In fact, I'm not even sure why I'm writing this as I don't think I can come close to describing it. But here goes.

Napoleon is a tall gawky maladroit in an American high school. He's the lowest of the low in the school social hierarchy. He's got a monotone drawl, and an arsenal of not very witty non-sequiturs. And a weird imagination... Meanwhile, his older brother makes him look normal. And let's not talk about the creepy uncle Rico who lives with them & sells something not quite identifiable door to door.

Then Napoleon meets & befriends new kid in school, Pedro, who while just as nerdy as him, has a moustache... Pedro also has the balls to ask Summer Wheatley, the most popular girl in school (think Hilary Duff, because Summer is played by Hilary's sister Hayly), to the prom. Summer refuses of course, so Pedro turns his sights on Debs, the girl Napoleon has been plucking up courage to ask, Debs accepts, to Napoleon's dismay...

Not only that, but Pedro decides to run for class president against Summer, and Napoleon agrees to be his campaign manager. They haven't a hope right?

This is as far away as you could possibly get from anything you can imagine really, it's cheap & cheery in the same sort of style as old John Waters films. The acting seems stiff, but after a while you start to think, actually, the acting is amazing! These guys are convincingly unlikable, uber-geeks. John Heder, who plays the title character, was apparently paid $1000 for his services. The movie grossed $40 million... I hope his agent holds out for more next time.

Well worth a look. You will either love it or hate it.