Pedro for President

Over the weekend I went to see Napoleon Dynamite (3/5). It was shot very well had some nice set pieces and some clever ideas. However it seemed to exist purely in its own world. A world where everyone was weird and Napoleon was just the goofiest of the weirdos. Some of it was kind of improbable even for the world that had been created in which for the story to exist. It was very likeable though so any gripes are just minor ones. I know I’ll buy it eventually.

It had a lot of the kind of things I like about these kinds of people in this setting. Napoleon’s Uncle Rico was obsessed with time travel and in particular getting back to the year 1982 where his football career went horribly wrong. In comedy I love the device whereby someone’s life is defined by a particular event. It usually turns a character into a laughable shell of a man, which makes for funny. Napoleon also features the geek who becomes cool, but still fundamentally stays a geek. Another perennial funny.