Experiencing *NAPOLEON DYNAMITE* for the first time!!! 

I still use "your mom goes to college" as a devastating comeback twenty years later.

Napoleon Dynamite is seriously one of the greatest comedy films ever made. There's just nothing else like it. Shoestring budget, tiny crew, and this masterpiece is the result. Absolutely iconic.

Also, this movie cost a grand total of about $400,000 and made about $40 million at the box office, making it proportionally one of the most profitable films in history.

The movie was filmed in Idaho, and is virtually exactly my experience of high school in the late 70's. Each time I watch it I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the accuracy of what everyone is calling "nostalgic".

Napoleon’s dance routine getting a standing O is probably the most accurate part of this entire movie’s portrayal of high school. Everyone always cheered when the unremarkable, socially awkward, weird kid would go onstage and display some sick skills.

"you could be drinking whole if you wanted too." really cracked me up.

I live in Idaho, and I can tell you that this is actually a pretty accurate depiction of our state. Not much was exaggerated.

I had absolutely NO IDEA they had a post-credits scene at all. Twenty years went by without me knowing it. Thank you so much for blessing me with this. ❤😂

9:04 Wow. “Mildly annoyed by everything” in the 20 years since this film came out I’ve never heard anybody describe Napoleon more accurately than those four words lol!

The same guy who made this movie also made Nacho Libre. One of my favorite comedies. It's also based on cringe and characters.

I love this movie so much. There's no other comedy with such a unique, awkward sense of humor. Basically every main character is an outsider and an underdog in their own strange way, and the fact that they all get their happy endings just makes you feel warm and fuzzy. The setting is so relatable if you grew up in a rural setting; basically everything is a decade behind.

The first time I watched this movie I wasn't sure if I liked it or hated it. Then I found out the more times I watched it, the more I liked it.

What little structure there is to this movie is essentially provided by the Rex Kwon Do system. 1. Use the buddy system 2. Discipline your image 3. Learn self-respect Even though Napoleon thinks that Rex Kwon Do is a rip-off, he nevertheless implements every element of the system. He buddies up with Pedro. He gets some sweet clothes to improve his image. And he demonstrates self-respect by learning some kick-ass dance moves.

The title saying "experiencing" instead of "watching" is oddly way more accurate

When my sister and her friend watched this in cinemas, her friend said to her "your brother [me] is like Napoleon" and she told me, it still lives rent free in my brain and i don't know if its a compliment or an insult

My sister and I still say “I want that.” in a mock whisper to each other all the time.

It was an up and coming movie, but after it started getting attention, 20th century fox picked it up for larger distribution.

I was today years old when I realized Napoleon's grandma is Mac's mom in Always Sunny.

The tetherball scene with The Promise playing is so iconic

Uncle Rico is stuck in 1982, and his shirts are stuck in 1978. LOL.

John Heder and Jared Hess, film students at BYU, collaborated to make a short film called "Peluca." Another film student friend convinced them to make a feature film of it and helped them to raise $400,000. They submitted it to Sundance Film Festival. It was accepted. Fox Searchlight Films picked it up from there. It grossed over $44 million. That's how a film that looks small budget ends up being distributed by 20th Century Fox. When I first saw it, as the end credits rolled, I just stared at the screen, thinking, "What the hell was that?" I've never watched it again for myself, but I love watching others watch it for the first time so I can be amused by their bewilderment.

Honestly, my favorite scene of the entire movie is when Kip tries to demonstrate the strength of the bowl with the van and it just explodes, I die every time. I don't know why. "Your Mom goes to College" The best and worst burn ever 😂

You can't blame the uncle for doing that. It's literally called "chuck steak"...

The juxtaposition between her excitement after reading the note and then her disappointment when seeing the actual drawing is truly heartbreaking.

Napolean Dynamite is one of those movies that need to be watched Multiple times to truly understand the movie and every time you see it gets funnier and funnier

It's hard to write a movie where nearly every line of dialogue is a quotable classic. "You know I'm m training to become a cage fighter." "How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?" "Make yourself a dang quesa-dil-la!" Great movie lol

"Nessie" No it wasn't Creative Writing. It's when you have to read a news paper article for Social Studies/History (the maps are behind him on the wall). He's just goofy so he read an article from a tabloid like World Weekly News or something.

FFA or Future Farmers of America is/was an agricultural youth organization that was essentially competitive farming for teenagers. You can always spot the FFA members at school by their characteristic blue corduroy jacket with large embroidered emblem on the back.

This is one of my sisters favorite movies, we use to quote "Come on, give me some of your tots" all the time as kids... good memories

Team America? Oh, my sweet summer child. That's "The A-Team" music! I pitty the fool!

"He's got tater tots for later" I guess you could say he has later tots. Sorry, that was stupid but I absolutely love this movie. I remember when this came out, after a few of my friends and I saw it, we were at work and one of my friends shift ended and he said he had to go to class (college) and our supervisor in the other isle said "your mom goes to college" and we al started laughing.

Also the girl named Deb, with the pony tail on the side of her head, played "Enola" the girl from WaterWorld (Kevin Costner)

The character Napoleon is just so good. The actor did such a good job. And I think capturing a lot of peoples childhood/school years just made this something everyone can relate to

The plot is a “slice of life”. Just looking into a small part of these characters day to day lives.

I'm 100% positive that Taylor Swift is just Jon Heder in a wig.

I met a young man one time who had pretty bad case of autism and he acted and spoke just like Napoleon Dynamite. Eyes half closed, grumpy indignation (You're such an idiot. Gawd!) I was immediately struck by the idea that the creator of this film must have known someone with a very similar affliction. The similarity was uncanny.

Pedro's cousins look like characters from Breaking Bad. But they're wonderfully wholesome. XD

"wait...i forgot to put in the crystals" love this movie.

Half if the humor is the gajillion 80's references throughout the film. As a child of the 80's, this movie had me rolling. Nostalgia indeed.

Napoleon Dynamite is an experience, I don't know how else to put it. It's so unique, the level of awkward, just about everything is unexpected but also it's iconic, like you said at the beginning, everyone from back then knows the dance.

In Preston, Idaho, where this was filmed, it had a big influx of tourist as the movie became more popular. So much so they has Napoleon Dynamite Days celebration for several years afterward. People to this day come to see all the filming locations.

this movie perfectly depicts highschool awkwardness, and it being set in the rural midwest where culture is 10 years behind the times just highlights it even moreso.

This film is nearly an autobiographic documentary for the director. The cast includes his relatives and teachers. Elements taken from real life include the film’s title, being the only boy in a sign language class, the puffy sleeves on the prom dress and much more.

I remember when Vote for Pedro t-shirts were sold in Wal-Mart.

You had so much fun watching Napoleon Dynamite! It was fun watching your reactions. Napoleon is one of my favorites. His shoes are classic Moonboots!! I think I had a pair back in the 80s.

I remember reading somewhere that this movie is the hardest movie for Netflix to gauge whether to recommend or not. Meaning that their advanced algorithm does a pretty decent job of figuring out if a person will like so and so movie based on their past watch history and recommend stuff for them. But this movie is one where it would defy the algorithm. It could never tell if a person would love it or hate it.

If I ever stumble across this movie while channel surfing, I always watch it again. I can't help it..

This is one of the most rewatchable movies ever made for the reason you stated, the plot is not the memorable thing, it's just a few connected dots, the star of the movie is the characters, the scenery and all the countless nostalgic touches. Instead of making it specific to any time it feels like it could be set anywhere from the 80s to the early 2000s so it's like a comfortable blanket for several generations.

This movie was so iconic growing up. I love it but I couldn't tell you why 😂😅

Napoleon Dynamite might be as close to actual high school as movies can get.

When they're in the blue jackets with the big orange circle with the eagle above it with outstretched wings, they're at an FFA activity. (Future Farmers of America = FFA.) It's a contest where the students judge agricultural products and animals and land, and are themselves judged by the experts to see how good the students are at evaluating agricultural elements like milk or cows or meat or soil, etc.

It is an indie film made by friends. MTV funded them to make a full movie and Fox distributed the movie. The director’s second movie is Nacho Libre with Jack Black

Despite this not being geared towards your generation, you got it right off the start. I grew up in the 80s and 90s. This felt EXTREMELY familiar. It's a little place in Iowa stuck in the past. Napoleon is so much like some kids I knew growing up, it's scary. They would say the most outlandish lies in casual conversation. Kip represents so many people I know as well. All the characters were spot on and anyone who grew up in a small town will feel at home with this film.

I like that Napoleon went to the restroom specifically to open a pack of gum

Total cult classic. That song that kip sings at the end... amazing

The intro and ending of this movie makes me tear up every time. Pure nostalgia

Okay... If there was ever a time people should read my comment, it's NOW. If you like Napoleon Dynamite, then you NEED to watch The Sasquatch Gang and Gentlemen Brancos. These movies are made by the same people and are extremely underrated.

"I feel like they're not acting". You're not wrong. LOL. Apparently a lot of the movie was improv, and a lot of the scenes were shot in 1 take. Even if it wrong. For instance the scene where he puts the container behind the tired, and runs it over and breaks, wasn't supposed to happen that way. But they were like, "ohwell, that's kinda funny". 😂😂

My nephew was around 13 when this movie came out and he had to have a knee surgery after a basketball injury. So, I rented a bunch of movies and stayed at my brothers house to help out. We watched this together and laughed so hard! He would randomly text me lines from this movie. And we still do that. When he graduated from college, I made him a cake that said “Your Mom Goes To College…” 😂

This flick was more inspired by the 90s than anything else. It took at least a year or so to make, and all the people that made it were adults so their cultural touchstones are going to be from the 90s. None of us knew what to think about the movie even after seeing it. But seeing this now I realize Napolean was an autistic king and I no longer love it ironically as a 36 year old man, now its just incredible. I realize now that I always thought I was Napolean, but I grew up to be an Uncle Rico and now that im older I realize that Kip and Pedro were the true role models of the movie. Also I realize how much I still quote this 20 years later.

Fun fact, Rex is played by Deidrich Bader, best known for voicing Batman in a number of projects. Napoleon could have been trained by the goddamn Batman.

The only other movie insult that tops "Your mom goes to college" is "You mix your Wheaties with your momma's toe jam!" from "The Sandlot"!

Its important to note this movie did not have a ton of funding. That post credit sequence is a later addition costing a significant percentage of the original entire films budget.

One of the cool things about this movie is that Napoleon actually follows the Rex Kwon Do throughout the film. Also it's made to show that even in a small world big things are happening according to those who live in it.

I never thought anyone could be tone deaf while doing sign language to a song. But Napoleon pulled it off lol. This is one of my go to movies when I need something light hearted and fun. It's a great therapy movie.

This is sort of like a more modern interpretation of the 80's movie "Revenge of the Nerds."

I was not too far removed from my time in a fairly rural high school when this came out, and it hit so hard. This captured the utter absurdity of high school in that time so perfectly - I specifically remember that people a generation older than me didn't embrace it quite as much, which shows how well they portrayed the experience in that specific time. Also, awkward humor is the one area of comedy where I have trouble laughing (I can't watch The Office because I just feel sad for Michael Scott) but this, for some reason, gets me anyway.

"How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?"

Awesome and amazing as always VKunia with Napoleon Dynamite. 💞📺📺💞

I’m always scared when reactors watch this for the first time. It took me like 6 times of watching it before I appreciated the comedy. My brother told me I wasn’t going to like it the first time. This movie was my comfort movie during my first deployment to Iraq. Anchorman was another go to during that time.

Anyone who can get through this movie without crippling social anxiety is secretly a robot. It's one of those movies you just stare at in mind boggled confusion then laugh about it afterward.

Napoleon Dynamite is amazing and those emotions you’re feeling are genuine to how one felt when they first experienced it. It’s pretty deep actually, everyone around Napoleon eventually influences his actions in the end. Everything from Rex talking about the buddy system, to befriending Pedro, to Lafawnduh giving Napoleon the mixtape that he uses to showcase his sick dance moves he learned from the vhs he bought at the secondhand store. It all connects in the end. I HIGHLY recommend the writers other films, namely Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos! They’re equally strange and so funny too!

Daily dose of beauty before work❤ and remember always carry and protect your pocket of tots😂

You have to watch Nacho Libre next

What Napoleon Dynamite perfectly captures, is life in a small town. I think that's why so many people connect to it and sense a familiarity with that quirky little world of eccentric characters. It's just a bunch of people trying to make the most out of their minimally eventful existences. In that sense, the humor develops naturally without being forced.

Back when this came out and I saw it, I couldn't tell you what it was about this movie that I loved. Even now, I can't tell you what it is about this movie. But dammit, it was so fun!

Napoleon's boots are just cheap snow boots. One of the things that's great about this movie is how relatable it is. I remember having to wear boots just like those in elementary (although only in winter) because they were the cheapest ones.

There was actually a cartoon based on the movie. I think it only had one season. There is also a comic book series. It takes place after the movie and the first couple of issues are about Pedro being impeached. turns out someone tampered with the votes so Napoleon and Deb and a new female student try to figure out what's going on. The last issue is Valentine's day issue. the guy who plays uncle Rico pops up in other movies but you can barely tell it's him. The guy was in Real Genius, and played a werewolf in both Fright Night 2 and The Monster Squad. He's also been in a lot of tv shows.

This movie will never not make me laugh hard constantly, the dry delivery is a master class in comedy.

You are going to love this VKunia! Have an awesome Saturday!

Jon Heder is a national treasure, he was chicken Joe in Surf's Up! And Lionel in Critical Role C1, never laughed so hard in my life!

my favorite scene is when kip is trying to show the lady that the bowl doesn't break by driving over it, and then it breaks. the bowl wasn't actually supposed to break irl so that just makes it even funnier to me😂

My ultimate comfort movie. I’m not a movie guy but I’ve seen this literally 20 times and it never gets old

There is some debate about what time frame this movie takes place. With the fashion and vehicles it looks like the 80s and no one uses cell phones. But If you look at Napoleon’s school ID at the beginning, it says 2004-05. But a town in rural Idaho where the movie is set might have some out of date pop cultural references and fashion

Awesome 😂

my favorite part about this movie is it had a tiny budget and almost everyone in the movie isn’t actually an actor they’re just the people that were in the locations where they shot and it still turned out to be one of the greatest comedy films of all time

i honestly think the ending sequence for this movie is one of the most perfect endings to a movie ever

Lucky!

I’m first again🎉

I like how you titled this “Experiencing ‘Napoleon Dynamite’” like yeah… you don’t just watch this movie, you experience it lol😊

3:49 one of my favorite details is kip talking to napoleon on the phone and every time it cuts back to kip, even tough he doesnt seem to move at all, his grated cheese always looks different and in one shot its just a huge pile on top of his plate of nachos.

If i remember correctly, it was originally made as a highschool project but was so good it got pitched to hollywood execs and rewritten as a full length script. The lead actor (john heder i think) was the highschooler that originally played napolean in the school project and it actually ended up in a hollywood career for him.

Kip hooking up and marrying an absolute queen is one of my fave bits of this film.

It was an indie film. But then it got some distribution rights from major companies.

This film is so nostalgic for me! It's basically showcasing how high school and being a teenager was awkward for everybody.

This takes place in Preston Idaho and was definitely filmed there. I am fairly confident that the costume department scavenged local closets.

I normally skip the intro to every reaction video I watch, but not yours. I absolutely love your energy.

The boots were the "Uggs" of the era .. they were literally called Moon Boots.

Fun fact the bowl wasn’t supposed to break, so the brother improvised the “DANGIT” and drove off.

I feel like as a kid in the 2000s, who didn't grow up in a big city, this movie captures the ennui perfectly.