Jared Hess’s feature directorial debut concerns the life of the school nerd, Napoleon (Jon Heder), attempting to get through his days at school, while trying to help his new found friend, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), become class president.

When the MTV logo came up, I felt a sense of prejudice creep upon me. MTV are known for crap films. Their releases are often hyped up to the nth degree, and fall flat on their faces harder than a punch to the face from Butch, the local convict. This is, fortunately, not a typical MTV outing, and that alone is a plus point.

Setting that prejudice aside, I have to admit I am in two positions with Napoleon Dynamite. On the one hand, it was incredibly dull and boring for about half the film. The second half, however, picks up and the film goes into (its equivalent of) overdrive. Things start to quicken, events unfold and are wrapped up neatly in the space of about 35-40 minutes. Napoleon Dynamite is a pretty unbalanced film.

The comedy is what will perhaps drive most people up the wall. It’s incredibly dry humour, rather than visual tom-foolery, and therefore may not appeal to those looking for out and out slapstick humour. The humour comes from the, mostly good, script and the on screen performances of Heder and his partner in crime Ramirez. The two have an interesting, almost Beavis and Butthead like chemistry. Neither Dynamite nor Pedro seem bright enough to get anywhere, however, they manage through some implausible scenarios. It is a comedy after all, so suspending disbelief is perhaps a requirement.

Credit to the cast, who really shine. I particularly liked Tina Majorino’s understated, glamour photographer role; the cupping of the hands, or hands held together under the chin with a subtle finger movement indicating the suggested mind of a professional. It’s a nice touch, and very amusing. Heder plays the dim-witted goof with belief; his awkward, arched running and teenage angst come off as likable and endearing.

I’m not quite sure as to the whole point of the film. Perhaps there is no point to the film at all. It may just be bunch of scripted scenarios about nothing in particular; if that’s the case then it’s managed it pretty well, as there’s nothing specific about the film. In some respects, it’s very empty. There seems no actual plot, no depth to the characters – as entertaining as they are, they seem rather superficial against the backdrop of nothing. Is it a slice of American life that we’re unlikely to see? Or perhaps a caricature of the extremities of life in an American High School.

The film may have been more balanced if everything wasn’t squeezed into the latter half of the film. After the credits have rolled there’s yet another scene. Most people tend not to watch the credits, and turn off; the point of the last scene is slightly beyond me as it doesn’t really add anything.

The most entertaining part of the film is the dance scene, which has to be seen to be believed. I’ve seen better dancing, but credit to Heder, as it’s very good, even if you could see it coming from a mile away. As mentioned, the first half is incredibly dull, and pretty lackluster. It’s rather ironic that it’s only with the introduction of another character than any interesting dynamic takes place.

Jon Gries as Uncle Rico, and Aaron Ruell as Kip are unlikely characters. Even for me, to suspend that much disbelief in a film that’s rooted to using almost every cliche in an underdog film, you have to draw the line somewhere. They were occasionally entertaining, but for the most part, they were rather tiring to watch, and made viewing the film a rather laborious task.

There’s supposed to be some connection with the Mormon’s and this film. That the director is one, and there are many Mormon only jokes that most won’t understand. If that’s the case, it may explain why I felt more than half the film was rather bland. Dysfunctional and disaffected youth have been portrayed in comedies before both in more realistic and unrealistic ways; but with much more panache and entertainment than Napoleon Dynamite.

For all the surreality that it attempts to put across, it comes across as weak gloss for a film that is low on any real substance. A series of sketches put together to create a film that doesn’t work as whole piece of entertainment, and as a comedy lacks any real wit. There’s some intelligence to it, but it comes across as laboured, for want of a better word. The acting is great throughout, it’s just a shame the script and depth in writing is not able to really use the actors to their full extent, in what eventually becomes a common by the numbers ending.

It’s not that film is hard to understand, it’s just not that funny, and doesn’t really have a lot to say. It is original, I suppose, in the sense that it’s a film about nothing, and even then I could pick several films which don’t have anything to say that are a cut above Dynamite.

There are things I like about the film, that are both endearing and humourous, it’s just frustrating that it isn’t carried throughout the film, and comes across as dull. It’s like watching a modern day Brady Bunch in some respects; a backwards world living in the modern age, which may have been funny once upon a time, but just doesn’t cut it today. I’m pretty disappointed, as I had high expectations of the film to be something refreshing. Instead Napolean Dynamite turns out to be messy and uncoordinated.

Verdict: Disappointing, not particularly interesting or enjoyable. Solid performances from a poor script. Rent only