Filmmaker reacts to Napoleon Dynamite (2004) for the FIRST TIME 

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I think the thing that often gets ignored when people talk about this movie and its absurdity, is its genuine earnestness. It truly captures the feeling of growing up feeling invisible in a small farming town. It is also a story about staying true to yourself and your friends even when it is not the easy choice. This movie doesn't take the easy way out by changing the characters to make them more palatable in their peer's eyes and I love that about it. It is a truly sweet film wrapped in mundane absurdity.

"Tina come get your dinner you fat lard!"😂😂 a good majority of me and my sister jokes are references from this movie p.s. about time you reached 100k it's overdue! You're a great reactor man! Love your vibe!

I love that you always get to the heart of whatever you're watch and don't try to say it's better or worse than another thing. All the things you point out make me enjoy the movie more.

This one hit me at the right time and I watched it like three times in theaters. Made all three of my friends watch it so I could quote it around them.

Fun fact, the director talks about how the scene where the cow was shot was inspired from his past where that actually happened

Nostalgia overload on this one. Growing up in that timeline does make you resonate with numerous things you see in this film. Especially the telephone with the massive chord LOL. Anyhow, "Paris, Texas" has a very similar feel to this just actually serious but visually a masterpiece. You should give it a watch at some point. Would be very educational I reckon.

Love this film!! The awkward interactions of the main characters is so beautifully complemented by the bone dry emotionless delivery of the dialogue. Pedro's wig, Napoleon's dance moves and Kip's transformation just add icing to the cake. An odd movie that gets better and better with each viewing. Timeless and priceless.

Apologies if it was in your full-length reaction, but did you watch the after credits scene? It’s great as well. Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre are great.

When I first saw this, I thought this movie was set in the '80s or early '90s, but there's one shot during the opening where you can see from Napoleon's student id that it is actually set in 2004, contemporaneous to when the movie was released. Apparently the fashion sensibilities of the characters and local area are implied to just be trapped in a cultural time bubble. As for why it's popular and certainly why I enjoy it, the movie does what so few other films have, which is to capture all the goofiest.. artifacts an entire generation or two of us all grew up with in elementary to high school. Like, yeah, a lotta films are iconic for capturing cool and not-so-cool things we all remember from high school, but Napoleon Dynamite is one of the few that really gets some of the weirder things we all forgot about: like tater tots. This whole film was tater tots.

to me, this is a screenplay written about the Junior High underdog experience...set in High School, and that seems to lend an unseen but heartfelt innocence to all the characters. The younger characters all have this "Ready to take on the world" attitude but it's limited to taking on the world inside of their own little cliques. I connected more with Pedro, roaming around making connections all over the place in each little bubble, also, with his quiet simplicity. I was about the high school age when it came out and it made me wish things in HS were just as simple as JH had been.

Napoleon Dynamite presents a bizzarro world mirror of our childhoods and specifically our childhood insecurities. The details in the movie seem to focus on the strands of memories that we can't let go of. This movie feels like therapy at times.

Watched it twice back to back the first time i saw it. Every character so fascinating to watch

Yes! This is the American public school experience in a nutshell. So unique how they nailed it no matter where you're from.

Congrats on 100K!! 🎊

Existential comedy… the scene of the uncle reminiscing on what could have been. Actually much deeper a movie than people give it credit for.

For myself it achieves something that many of us filmmakers strive for. It's a unique. There's nothing like it. And it achieves finely crafted simplicity. In any other film it would be boring as hell. But the script envelops a simple experience of a singular character. It's a classic to me.

I think what makes this movie so relatable is that all the characters are exaggerated versions of kids that we DID know or were in school. It's not trying to be all that deep, it's just trying to be something you experience and spend some time with, and it succeeds pretty well I think you'll agree. You laugh, you smile, you cringe.

This is kind of a weird movie experience for me somewhat because I haven’t actually watched it all the way through. I first heard of it was when I was at my first residential placement, (basically a long term psych ward) this girl was obsessed with it and she finally got to play it for movie night. But this other girl went into a pretty bad episode and triggered me (I have ptsd) and another kid. So the nurses got everyone into the side room and played the movie to calm everyone down. I was 11, the youngest person there, so some of the other kids were really protective of me and calmed me down. I remember halfway through the movie we got to head to our rooms, and when we went down the hallway we saw the girl who had the episode being held down by four nurses and being injected with a sedative. It’s an amazing movie, but now I can’t watch it without thinking about that night. My trauma aside, I love your reactions and your channel in general. You’re awesome, and have a good day. :)

Incredibly nostalgic, great cinematography, on a budget of less than 500K. Vote for Pedro!

Bless you James I hope you are having a wonderful day. Thank you very much for reacting to this movie. Have a great one as always.

This movie is so famous, the dance he does is used for one of the race of characters in the game world of Warcraft. Blood elf male…. Only really famous dances get that. Like Saturday night fever is Human Male. Can’t Touch this by MC Hammer is Orc Male…

The story is a retelling of Rocky. The life of poor underdog guy who in the end gets the poor underdog girl and they are a perfect match; there is true love for everyone. His uncle is like Paulie. Now take the setting from deep inner city Philadelphia to the other end of the spectrum, wide open rural Midwest.

this movie captured lightning in a bottle. it can't be be explained or re-created. it's simply great and unique af. 😆

Another indie comedy with similar vibes is Kabluey. Definitely would recommend.

If everyone was in 6th grade, this plays as straight drama lol

From your reaction to this, I HIGHLY suggest You and me and everyone we know. very similar vibe. ETA- I like your word unconventional - I think the bit about you not being able to look away... these 2 flicks do such a good job at telling the story of the people no one tells stories about. Just odd nobodies living their slightly peculiar, but extremely grounded lives.

Fun Story: I met Pedro (efren ramirez). He was staying at a hotel I was working on in Sydney. We had a chat and I offered to show him and his friend around the city. Coolest guy, took the him to Sydney Zoo to hold a koala, It was awesome. *The End*

Whoops. Missed the amazing post-credits scene.

This movie is the picture of relatability

It's hard to put a finger on it. I think the reverence this film shows towards the completely awkward characters is where it hits you. So many of us are our own bizzarre weirdos, that we can relate to these characters, and it's an aspect of humanity that is not only ignored, but actively avoided by other cinema.

Where’s the end credit reaction?? 🤣 This movie reminds me a lot of the stupid humor like Super Bad. Both movies crack me up especially upon watching multiple times. Like with NP, when he’s trying to get the llama to eat the ham but llama’s are vegetarian so he’s whipping it over the fence…I crack up laughing at that scene.

I think you completely missed the wedding at the end! It brought closure to the film…

Simple greatness

I and this movie have a...complicated relationship. I lived in that town for far too long. Wasn't good times. But it has a few of my friends, I know the extras personally, as much as I hate the place, I know the movie inside and out because of it. They captured the feel mostly of the sleepy little town. I would say the movie makes it more exciting. I've never found Asian weapons in the DI (Religious thrift store) like Napoleon just finds casually. The movie leaves me with conflicting emotions.

I liked this movie because the humor is very dry and subtle, but that's what makes it feel like *real* humor, like you see in real life, rather then scripted "Hollywood" humor. It's the kind of stuff that makes you laugh in real life, when you just see someone do/say something that's "passively" funny. Like, it doesn't seem like actors just acting out scripted jokes. I'm probably doing a poor job conveying what I mean.

Tina is my favorite character.

Did you watch the after credits scene??

"lack of independence" is kinda how it was back in the day. Imagine no phones or REAL internet access in the way we have it today. The influence on you really be just the immediate enviornment around you. This creates a uniformity, a sub-culture. And most kids (As someone who grew up in a town/era very similar to ND) were "boring" in school. There was less "ADHD" behavior. You went into school only really able to discuss MAYBE a tv show if you happened to catch it, and only what else happened in school. This, IMO, makes/made the peeps seem less intelligent for their age comparably to kids nowadays. My kid, who is 14, already has SO many opinions on literally everything just because of the amount of WORLD access he has from his phone. It's nuts. He came home from school and asked ME about the Depp Vs Heard Trial that is happening. They are literally having social discussions about that at his age in school among his peers. Just nuts to think what 25 year difference makes in kids of the same age.

As someone born and raised in Southern Idaho, it is SCARY at how accurate they nailed small town Idaho. The reasonn it feels like an 80s or 90s vibe but it is the 00s? yeah. that is small town Idaho, decades behind. Love this movie. haha.

I’ll put my two cents in. Every director makes choices. Here, it was to enlarge the perceived anxieties of youth and explore the inner insecurities we all seemed to have when we were young. But Hess is so TENDER in the way he plays it all out. There’s no cussing, very little in the way of OVERT violence, no real sexuality (other than faint and implied)… it’s just like a confessional. In the background is a kind of “hum” of shame (Kip at the dojo; the guy trying to rip up the Tupperware, etc.) and it’s a gentle, excusable shame. This movie doesn’t try to shock you or overstimulate your eyeballs. It’s a careful walk through the human condition with innocence in the forefront. I could take my mom out to see this as well as a middle schooler. It’s funny, weird, and delightful. I think it’s so popular because precious few things in this era ARE.

Such a fun movie. Super quotable. So many fun underdog heroes. Goofy villains. Everybody is aloof and odd but supremely relatable. I love how tender the ending was. One of my all time favorite comedies. Wish more films were this endearing and adventurous.

Great observation about how similar growing up is - the insecurities, the anxiety, the awkwardness. I think was filmed in Idaho, but it doesn't matter, since its so relatable. Great cinematography, and funny, and tender script, and very skilled acting make this so successful.

Watched this movie for the 1st time about a month and a half ago while going through alcohol withdrawal in the hospital. I was on seizure prevention drugs for my delirium tremens, morphine for my pancreatitis and an IV. This movie felt like a fever dream but I was so entertained. It was the 1st time in the hospital that I wasn't thinking about drinking and it made me feel comfortable. Definitely in my top 5 favorite movies now. 44 days sober and still going strong!

I like how the film even has characters in it that "don't get" the film. Like the bewildered and aloof expression Summer's boyfriend Don is making in every scene where he's just like 'Wait, what? Are we loosing? How? Aren't we the popular couple?'

It’s honestly my favourite film, I see so many films but this one just is so nostalgic to me and makes me happy every time I see it

This movie feels like it’s in the 80’s 90’s and 2000’s at the same time

Watched this movie in school and we all loved it. I got it on DVD and I find myself adopting some of Napoleon's lines like "GOSH!" and "idiots!". And the day after we saw it a few people had the "Vote For Pedro" shirt. Such a damn good film. The after-credits scene of LaFawnduh and Kip's wedding is freaking hilarious.

"It feels like I stepped into another dimension." Welcome to rural Idaho.

This movie was so different than anything else that came out at the time. Everyone was so into the Matrix movies at the time and all those special effects, and then Napoleon Dynamite comes along out of left field and goes back to basics with a bizarre underdog story.

For people who didn't see this movie when it first came out, it's hard to understand how this put indie movies on the map. It really opened the door for weird, quirky, low-budget movies in the 2000s. Just like Slacker did in the 90s.

I watched this movie with my parents, and the whole time my dad was saying "this is just like UHF." He was only kind of right, but that led into him finding and showing us UHF, which is one of the funniest movies of the 80s.

I think one of the reasons why so many fell in love with this film is that it came out during the peak of raunchy teenage films. I didn't pay attention to the film's rating or trailers when I saw it in theaters and was expecting a low brow high school comedy and was blown away by how sweet, awkward and genuine it felt.

This movie blew people away when it came out. No one had ever seen anything like it. I actually live about 30 miles from where this was filmed, and I've been to a lot of the locations. It just goes to show that some innovation goes a long way when you have basically no budget to work with.

I’m 53, this movie reminds me of being a kid in the 70’s. Look at the props and aesthetics! The dialogue is dry and quirky. Lots of good framing too

I saw John Heder at London Film & Comicon a few years back. A woman was just stood filming him so he kinda took on this Napoleon-esque character and started GENTLY trolling her. Saying things like, "what're you gonna do with that video? Tweet it to all 2 of your followers?....." It was hilarious but she took it as if he was insulting her entire family. Her overreaction just made it funnier and after some shouting, she just stormed off. I was stood 3 feet away. It was a brilliant time.

There's definitely something about this movie that speaks to like... being in middle school and high school between like 1995-2000, but specifically if you lived in the middle of nowhere where everyone was kind of just awkward and weird and "normal to an extreme degree" if that makes sense. The movie LOOKS like it takes place in the 70s or 80s visually, but I can definitely say I grew up in an area that was like this in the date range above, for the reasons stated above. I bet there are lots of little "in between" areas in the country where life is like this. Coupled with the year this came out, I think it just struck some notes with a lot of people. As far as the movie's fame, I do think a lot of it came from the dance scene. It became pretty viral, even at the time, and the entire dance was often found snuck away in video games and so forth. That and the movie was pretty quotable. So even if you hadn't watched it, you knew about it.

In addition, I think the Wed Anderson comparisons extend to a love of long shot and close ups, as well as the very vibrant colour palate to contrast the more standard shot types. It gives it a feeling of an almost dream like over-exaggeration of smaller details and mundanities of life.

This film is nigh on perfect. I'd never seen anything quite like it when I first watched it. I still love it even though the nostalgia part is lost on me because high school wasn't anything like this in the UK.

This Movie Came Out When I Was In Like 2nd Grade & There Was Mad Hype Around It We Had Napoleon Dynamite Pencils & Notebooks & All Kinda Other Stuff I Always Genuinely Loved The Movie & Aesthetic. You Forgot The Post Credit Scene Btw 😂

On the nostalgia aspect, I know exactly what you are talking about. The movie "A Christmas Story" does that for me. I've described it as "Nothing at all like that ever happened to me, but I remember every bit of it." :D

I always found that the uncle, played by John Gries, was a superb character. In this silly movie, there is this deep character experiencing something we have all experienced. Regret. It makes a very unsympathetic character very relatable and you do get sympathy for him.

Now that I'm in my forties, Uncle Rico's deep longing for a time in his youth, hits A LOT differently.

The colors, the characters, the pictures, the dialogs...all is strange and weird but in a good and innocent way. Great movie. Pedro +1

When I first watched this film, I just didn't "get" it. However, upon subsequent viewing, I really began to appreciate the story, script and even low-budget filmmaking techniques. It's a fantastic film -- and one of the most quotable films of the last few decades.

This one is so inspiring for upcoming filmmakers, Jon Heder (Napolean) and Jared Hess started this as a 9-minute class project, and it was well-received at a film fest, so Hess dropped out of school to develop the feature-length film. Heder was only paid $1000 for the role but made more eventually when the film became a huge success

My wife grew up in Small Town Idaho at the time this was set and she says it perfectly captures the experience. I’m still not sure how it resonates with me because I grew up in a bigger town though. I think it connects because it’s the classic High School nerds vs popular kids theme. It’s also got that art school feel that reminds a lot of us of old short “films” we made on camcorders back in the 90s. My oldest is a high school freshman in small town Idaho, so we all watched the movie and he said the outfits are different but the story is exactly the same in his HS. I suppose that’s why it has staying power.

Classic!!! I live in Utah and this came out just after I graduated high school. I live near SLC so I didn't have that farm town school feel, but all of the characters were like someone you knew. They filmed this just north in Idaho. It's one of those movies that doesn't have much of a grey area. You either love it or hate it. I was surprised that it exploded in popularity that much but sometimes movies just speak to the people of the time.

Napoleon Dynamite came out when I was a freshman in high school. And it was sort of refreshing to see a straight up comedy like this be successful without any huge stars.. definitely recall all types of people in my school talking about this. Maybe it was a hit because it showed an unpopular kid who actually felt like an outsider. Around this same time, The OC and One Tree Hill were both mega popular shows and the protagonists in those were supposed to be outsiders but in all honesty looked like models. In a sense, Napoleon sorta reminds me of Wayne from Wayne's World or Joe from Joe Dirt because the character is so himself you got to respect it.

Ayyee, it's been ages since I've seen this film. Absolutely loved every second of it. It's dryness was just something else

a classic. i also loved the other ones in this vein: Nacho Libre (Jack Black!) , and Gentlemen Broncos (Sam Rockwell! Gemaine Clement! Jennifer Coolidge!!).

Uncle Rico living the Van life before it was cool

Uncle Rico is the name of my fantasy football team! 🤣🤣

What a legendary film!! It’s absolutely ridiculous (in the best way possible) and it is SO funny to me. My family and I try to watch it at least once a year

They made this movie with $400,000. It grossed over $46 million worldwide and introduced tons of memes into the culture. Indy film makers take note.

Never saw this in theaters but caught it on TV in…2007, 8? Became a huge fan. It was the exact opposite of what so many movies were, people must have found that refreshing. I know I did! 😂

For me, this movie is a pretty good representation of rural Midwest America in the 80’s. The nostalgia is pretty accurate for me, being 36 and growing up in rural Missouri. The characters are not far off from some of the kids I knew. It’s a combination of underfunded education and simple farm folks, plus lack of exposure to anything outside of poor white farm country. They seem to point that out a lot in the movie. The uncles inability to move beyond his high school football. the older brothers infatuation with his black girlfriend, that he only found thanks to the computer. The automatic fear of Pedro’s brothers. The movie is deeper than I thought 🤔

I find the movie really relatable in some ways to how I grew up. Kip puts government cheese on his nachos and Napoleon does his shopping at the salvation army. Also, I was about Napoleon's age when dial up internet was a thing and we all had landlines. I really like that the film depicts a lower income family because you don't often see it shown in this way.

This movie is the epitome of timeless. You have no idea when this is supposed to take place, it could be contemporary, but it oozes nostalgia so you just assume it takes place whenever that nostalgia feels like it's coming from.

When I watched this movie in the theater I thought it was the stupidest thing I’d ever seen. A week later I found myself thinking about some of the scenes and laughing my ass off and of course it’s extremely quotable.

I live on a reservation that borders both the United States and Canada, and this movie has had a special place in our community ever since it came out, it feels alot like how our life is and the way our town is laid out. I remember my dad who is pretty particular about what movie he watches, would always put this one when I was younger, even now we just watched it last Friday.

Your ruining everybody’s lives and eating all our steak is probably a top line hahaha

You’d probably be inspired by the work of Sean Baker, a master of doing a whole lot with very little, like Jared Hess. His film Tangerine was shot on an iPhone 5S, and is gorgeous and moving, and Florida Project is, for me, one of the greatest American films of all time.

This is one of those movies, man. When I first watched it I was lost as to why so many people loved it. Then, over the course of the next couple of weeks, I would think of bits from the movie and just laugh out loud. "I think they were holy chips or something." "I'll do whatever I want to do, gosh!" "Your mom goes to college." "How much you wanna bet I can throw this football over them mountains?" "Tina, you fat lard, come get your dinner!" Such a funny and highly quotable movie!

I went over a homemade ramp on a scooter once and that's almost exactly what happened. Ramp just completely collapsed immediately, and I actually flipped forward over the scooter's handle and slid a few inches down the driveway. Very painful. But, very funny.

If you want to see the ORIGINATOR of these zoom tricks and weird camera angles, check out "Three O' Clock High." It stars the "pugilist" from "Young Guns" facing off against the school bad boy. It also stars the girl who would later be the voice of Lisa Simpson for 37 seasons (or whatever it's on now). My FAVORITE bully movie, but it might be as hard as "Young Frankenstein" to find streaming. Do you live near a used DVD store (like "2nd & Charles"?

I’ll make your wildest. Dreams come true ! Vote Pedro❤

When you feel like taking on another awkward, quirky and funny movie try Eagle versus Shark ( 2007). I think it is New Zealand’s answer to Napoleon Dynamite.

AFTER the credits they have Kip and LaFawndas wedding, and you MISSED it!

hey James and all reading/watching. I feel like this film summarizes that life can be boring and dark in moments. But even in those times it can be quirky, you can take fun risks, have good friends that are next to you and do great little things. Sometimes we feel numb to what's going on around us but when we think about it. Even in our everyday lives things can be amazing.

This movie had a budget of only $400,000, and Jon Heder was initially only played $1000. But it went on to make $45 million.

There is another scene with Napoleon’s brother getting married to LaFawnda. It is hilarious…just watching the reaction of her brothers! It was in the special features of the DVD and I’m sure it’s in RU-vid. Look it up!

Fun fact: Summer is Hilary Duff's sister irl.

I absolutely LOVE this film! The first time I saw it, I just thought it was a silly (but fun!) comedy. Liked it. Then I watched it a 2nd time many years later and absolutely fell in love with it, and have watched it many times since. It's really funny and, beyond definitely being silly, there's actually loads of good references and tongue in cheek jokes, with sharp dialogue. It's a really good comedy. But what I really love about it is its tenderness. I think that aspect is really underrated. The friendship between Napoleon and Pedro is just beautiful. As is is the way his friendship/romance with Deb develops. I just LOVE Kip's romance with Lafundwah as well, just genius. Plus loads of sidelines, like with the brother, and other minor characters, with this really interesting smalltown melancholy that is shown not told throughout. Every storyline and scene to do with that aspect of the film is done with such a light touch, and maintaining the humour at the same time. Coming up to the climax, with the amazing dance scene, and pedro's reaction, which I find SO heartwarming, moreso than funny. As you can tell, this is a favourite of mine :)

You're not gonna believe this my guy, but this movie has a post credits scene.

Oh man, you missed Kip's wedding. You gotta watch that.

Everything in this movie is akward.. which is why its great.. think everyone had a part of their life where they felt akward... you can relate to it.. also, that him drawing the face of that girl always put me in tears.. then your reaction to it just made it even more funny. Great reaction

This was an enigma. The indie vibe definitely drew a lot of attention to this movie. I remember watching this in high school and thinking for nearly 90% of the movie that it was set in the 80s until N'Sync started to play. Regardless, this film stands apart. It was shot in Preston, ID which this film captured perfectly. I live in Idaho, though a more progressive part of the state. I have driven through this area and can confirm it is not far from this reality.

This movie was made on a shoestring budget, like Clerks. But it was so instantly relatable that it became a cult classic (like Clerks).

Your just jealous? I’m talking to babes all day online!