Napoleon Dynamite

Apparently Napoleon is not the only one who appreciates his own awkwardness. To be honest my first reaction was like "what the hell" how is this movie so popular. I was pre-judging however before I saw the movie, the only advertisement that I have seen is the trailer. I did not see the trailer in till about a year later when I saw the DVD version of Dodgeball in my house. My niece was hounding me about how funny it was so I gave the film a chance and I watched the whole film. The best phrase to describe it was that it was the driest, funniest, most awkwardly refreshing movie I've seen. All I kept thinking is why do I think this is funny right now, it shouldn't be funny. Why I thought something so simple as Napoleon stuffing tatter tots in his back pocket to be hilarious? Also the fact I started to believe Kip was a ladies man like he said he was. 

Why is it that a movie that I knew nothing about came to be something I felt "how could I have lived without seeing this movie? How is it that something that seemed to have no hope for success become so successful? The only thought that came to me was its originality. I'll admit that is such a typical answer, every great movie is deemed "original" and "new". However it really does deserve to be called original. When I saw the trailer the first thing I thought was "good lord what the hell is Jared Hess thinking?" Jared Hess is the director of Napoleon Dynamite. In the trailer it seemed to be a random, typical coming of age movie, and also depressing. Everyone in the trailer has a serious, emotionless mug on their face; it almost seemed the actors themselves were depressed. So at first glance that turned me away. Second non of the actors in the movie seemed recognizable, and Jared Hess the director was a new name to me as well. The only thing that brought me to watch this movie and for most viewers was word of mouth which saved this movie. The movie made only over 100,000 in it opening weekend. Then it kept doubling in its earnings every week instead of decreasing in till it got to a steady increase by week 6. All together it made over 45,000,000!

You can see as Jon Heder explains the impact his character has for the audience. His character Napoleon Dynamite almost became a sort of an icon for viewers everywhere. He became a character that everyone recognized and someone frequently quoted and mimicked in other shows, movies, and peoples lives. I can't tell you how many Napoleon Dynamites I see walking around during Halloween.

 Napoleon Dynamite: 1hr 36: comedy: 2004

 http://resizing.flixster.com/UqHzQPFdhnqZlhZX7klD3Clee9o=/800x1200/dkpu1ddg7pbsk.cloudfront.net/movie/11/17/82/11178227_ori.jpg
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZJrGuC92U8
  http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=napoleondynamite.htm