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Napoleon Dynamite
Fox Searchlight Pictures


8.0

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 461 votes
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FILM:

Nacho Libre

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Tina Majorino, Haylie Duff, Ellen Dubin, and Emily Kennard

From Preston, Idaho comes Napoleon Dynamite (Heder), a new kind of hero complete with a tight red 'fro, some sweet moon boots and skills that can't be topped. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Jared Hess Jerusha Hess
DIRECTED BY:	Jared Hess
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 21, 2004 Video: December 21, 2004 Theatrical: June 11, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	86 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic), 2004 Sundance Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Film Threat Eric Campos

The cast playing these eccentric characters is magnificent...This is definitely one of the most unique comedies you’ll see all year.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Jon Heder in the magnificent Napoleon Dynamite, is one of the most winning movie creations in years.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

It's charming. It's hilarious. It is perhaps the most beautifully crafted, lovingly rendered portrait of extreme geekitude ever to grace the screen. It's Napoleon Dynamite.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

If you're sick of the gross-out gags and sex jokes of contemporary teen comedy, this defiant blast of idiosyncratic individuality just could be your tonic.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

I laughed. And I laughed primarily over Heder's hilarious performance. You ain't seen nothing till you've seen Napoleon attack that tether ball.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Thrusts us into a high school senior year like no other.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

More than a deadpan comedy about oddball losers. This dork has his day, and this story has its touching subtext -- growing pains relieved by unlikely hope.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

For older and more reflective viewers, it’s a quirky, fresh slice-of-life more inviting than a tater-tot pyramid.

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

A cult classic-in-the-making.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A diverting and loosely connected series of episodes about the most bizarre screen family of 2004.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

An inspired dead-end stunt that keeps delivering snarky laughs far longer than it has any right to.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

While Solondz's world is a hell hole and Anderson's "Rushmore" is a place of high-toned and often poignant whimsy, Napoleon Dynamite's unceasing burlesque creates a world that is pretty much a cartoon--and it's a damn funny cartoon to boot.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Refreshing for its simplicity and its originality in a marketplace dominated by soulless blockbusters.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

There's plenty of humor in the film, but the movie is often a little uncomfortable to watch, and Napoleon is not an easy guy to like. Rooting for him takes effort.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

May not make you laugh out loud - it's too sly and subtle for that - but it will have you smiling every minute, and often grinning widely at its weirded-out charm. Nerdiness will never seem the same.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Hess and his terrific cast -- Heder is geek perfection -- make their own kind of deadpan hilarity. You'll laugh till it hurts. Sweet.

Variety Todd McCarthy

An absurdist piece about a rural community of clueless cretins who careen through life like poorly played pinballs, Napoleon Dynamite represents the definition of the comedy of condescension and ridicule.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Both Hesses and a surprisingly large number of their very talented cast and crew are graduates of Brigham Young University's film program: Could BYU one day join the esteemed ranks of USC and NYU?

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Toward the end the freak-show humor begins to yield diminishing returns, but for most of its length this delivers a steady stream of uncomfortable gut laughs.

Newsweek Devin Gordon

This achingly funny film is a string of vignettes with no real plot, so it has periods of pointlessness--come to think of it, it's all pointless. But it has "cult classic" written all over it.

Slate David Edelstein

Napoleon Dynamite is too low-wattage to be a true nerd anthem, but it's charming in retrospect.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

As slight as the picture is, though, its hero is an indelible creation.

USA Today Mike Clark

There isn't much Napoleonic grandeur in this Idaho-set high school comedy, which in spite of its most condescending instincts, does have its moments.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

With the exception of one truly glorious dance solo, the movie treats its hero - and his equally uncool family - with undisguised disdain.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The performances, even those by trained actors like Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Majorino, have the hesitant, blinking opacity that some directors look for in nonprofessional casts. Their awkwardness is charming, and part of the point of the movie, but it also makes for some dull stretches and thwarts your ability to regard the characters with sympathy rather than mere curiosity.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Sure, it quickly turns into a one-note exercise in laughing at the yokels, but at least it has a vision.

Empire Helen O'Hara

As long as you don't mind making fun of the afflicted, there are some killer comic moments.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

So deadpan a film is Napoleon Dynamite, the story and the name of a gangly high school misfit in Preston, Idaho, that I can't say whether it was intended as a character study or a comedy.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

At the end of Napoleon Dynamite, you're glad the geeks have their day (even Kip's chat-mate turns out be a winner); you're also relieved to be rid of them.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's fairly entertaining--but not the second coming of indie comedy some notices might lead you to expect.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Has to be enjoyed in spurts. There's no cohesive story, just a series of opportunities for the title character (Jon Heder) to strut his gawky stuff.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A one-note, lightweight, condescending comedy about the rubes of Idaho.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Filmmaker Jared Hess (who cowrote the script with his wife, Jerusha Hess) installs Napoleon front and center as a punchline in and of himself -- and as that dispiriting product of narrative defeat, a symbol.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

It's a simple collection of sight gags and pratfalls that mines the overly familiar turf of awkward adolescence without bringing anything truly original to the experience.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There is a kind of studied stupidity that sometimes passes as humor, and Jared Hess' Napoleon Dynamite pushes it as far as it can go.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

If Napoleon Dynamite really is, as reported, a semiautobiographical exercise, it is one of the most astoundingly self-hating such exercises in memory.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 461 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Andy M. gave it a10:
This is movie is incredibly peculiar. It has this bleak and depressing tone, yet it still manages to be heartwarming, uplifting, and comedic. It doesn't hit you over the head with gags, as some people might have expected when they first saw it in theaters. Rather, it has this quirky, subtle, eccentric appeal that grows on you. Great acting, great soundtrack... it's a must-see film. John Heder plays this role perfectly (though, sadly, he can't play any other role). You can keep coming back to this film, and it will only get better. Just... don't expect a blockbuster teen comedy.

Cory G. gave it a10:
this movie is amazing. one of my favorite parts that i always love to just act out is "break the wrist, walk away." its not supposed to have a real plot, it just kind of exists, and makes people laugh in the process. the casting for the parts was great, especially pedro. i loved his apathetic attitude.

I Am Correct gave it a0:
This movie was boring and horrible. I sat through the movie waiting for it to end, and even then, i wanted to shoot myself, and then the TV.

Rob C. gave it a5:
Just three words: Slow, Bored. Eccentric.

Oz gave it a7:
It is funny in parts but i also found it hard almost cruel to watch.But i love the ending as its funny and thoughtful a strong moral.

Dylan C gave it a10:
The first time I saw this movie was in theaters; I left thinking, "What a waste of 2 hours!" Then I saw it again a few months later and "got" it. Plotless, true. It is the characters and grade-a acting that delivers. The only reason you would hate this movie is because you cannot relate with the characters, but the acting is undeniably solid. Having said all this, the true magic of this film comes off-screen: the quotability has potential to be endless. Cult Classic for sure.

Michael B. gave it a0:
Reviews would suggest the obvious: you either love this movie or hate it. I'm in the latter group. The laughs are few and far between. The creators set out to create a "laugh at how stupid we are" kind of movie, and instead, you end up cursing yourself for wasting your money. This one isn't even worth a rent.

Napoleon Dynamite Fox Searchlight Pictures

Napoleon Dynamite
Fox Searchlight Pictures