It is funny you should mention that, I asked my friends husband what his favorite part of the movie was and he said the credits. I have seen the move quite a few times and honestly I don;t think I ever ever even noticed them (before I asked him about it then I saw his attraction).
Funny Story about this movie, my late grandfather absolutely loved it. It was so funny seeing a tiny Hispanic priest who usually was so serious all the time in hysterics over some awkward teens in funny situations.
@@findsharon orthodox priest are allowed to marry and there is a couple of cases of converted Anglicans in the catholic church my priest is married and im a catholic
I went with my grandpa to see this too he always read the news paper and found some theater in Houston doing a sneak preview and he loved it. We lived in a town reminiscent of Napoleon’s.
i love how at the end at the movie there just are a bunch of trees the sunset and everything feels more comfortable rather than the awkwardness i felt the whole movie, i love that everyone i sympathize with gets a happy ending.
We live in a small town not far from where this was filmed. As a fun joke, my son asked a girl to homecoming by drawing a similar (less unflattering) picture and delivering a cake similar to Pedro's for Summer. He wrote a bunch of Napoleon Dynamite quotes on the poster with her "picture" inviting her to homecoming. She and her family had never seen the movie! Her mom was all, "Oh... that's really. . . nice?" It totally ruined the feel of the invitation but also made it somehow more funny. She still agreed to go and was able to laugh about it later, but it blew our minds that someone, especially so near the film location, hadn't seen the movie. 🤦♀️
I recently met Jon Heder at my nephews school. His daughter and my nephew are in the same class. People take pic with him around town. He’s super nice and chatted with my family for a minute.
@@TylerRamos-h2o early mid-90s. Chat rooms weren’t really a thing until then, and they were full of, mostly, people like Kip. And Pedro’s bike is 90s AF, with the shocks. That wasn’t really an 80s thing.
@@TylerRamos-h2oit takes place in 2004, but the point is before the internet became a huge thing, small towns were still stuck in the early 90s style wise.
The comment about the popular kids is spot on. There really isn't cruelty in the movie and that makes the movie very uplifting and different. It's like they are bound together by the same boredom or that the town is so small that everyone is connected by a few degrees of separation.
Growing up I used to always say "Your mom goes to college" as an insult with no idea what it meant or why it was funny. It basically just functioned as a Shibboleth to see if peers understood what I was referencing. ND was perfect for these types of shibboleth.
I just realized ND, despite being a pretty common abbreviation for a host of things, it also stands for "Neurodivergent" and I assure you, a lot of us felt something oddly familiar while watching this movie.
Napoleon Dynamite was barely marketed, too. My older sister and I saw it in theaters on a whim, it was empty. I remember being shocked at how good it was. It became a family favorite
Same. I don't remember seeing much advertising at all for it. Maybe on MTV I had seen a trailer. I eventually saw it on the home video DVD release at my friend's place one weekend. This was still back when it took 6 months or more for a theater release to hit the rental/retail market, instead of like three weeks nowadays. I was instantly like "what the hell was that" after it ended. I didn't know what to expect going in, but I knew as I was watching it that it was something different and special.
I remember being very little and all my older siblings’ friends and them were quoting it. It was a big deal at the time, at least I thought. I suppose you could say it went viral in a 2000s sort of way.
An unfortunate side effect of this movie was how self-aware indie movies became afterwards. Everyone was suddenly trying to be twee, earnest and cute and it suddenly felt inauthentic as a film movement
This literally is one of the greatest coming-of-age films of all time. It's so relatable and likable and just genuinely charming in such a comforting way that I am so happy it's been so ridiculously successful - it's not often these sorts of films HIT with the general public. And it's great that it really wasn't TRYING to be "oh so quirky and indie" like other films since... since then, there have been other borderline "indie mainstreams" like ME, EARL AND THE DYING GIRL, Be Kind Rewind and others... I also really loved the Hess' film GENTLEMAN BRONCOS.
I was in the theater opening weekend. People were literally standing up and cheering the final dance scene and full standing ovation at the credits. It was such an experience everyone was losing it
The montage at the end is perfect. The rising score, Napoleon walking around town and seeing how everyone has evolved, and ending up at the the tetherball.
@@Vivi_9 that’s too long a discussion for a comment section, but you’re more than free to luck up a number of articles and papers regarding it. This movie is sited in several film classes I have taken over the years
@@mostawesomecomment6553 oh I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was supposed to educate you. Carry on with your sad life. Go read some books. Attend a discussion. 😂 get educated why don’t you
as someone who lived in Southeast Idaho about 45 minutes from where this is filmed, I can confirm 100% that this movie is exactly what growing up there is like. 13/10 excellent movie
This movie was huge where I came from because Jon Heder went to the same high school as we did. He was much older, but I was in school with his younger brother and knew him pretty well. He was an awesome dude. So when this movie came out everyone was clamoring about this movie that a kid from our town made.
You’re right. The more I watch it the funnier it gets. I remember watching it when it came out and I was 14. I thought it was the stupidest movie I’d ever seen. Then I saw it again in my early 20s and laughed my head off. 20 years later I turn it on every once in a while and it just gets funnier and funnier every time. So quotable I love it so much!!
I was a missionary in many small towns in Idaho in the early 80s. This is so relatable. I'm from SoCal. Some parts of Idaho were like a foreign country. But full of good, decent people.
I remember going back to school after watching this over the weekend, all the 5th graders were saying “Tina you fatlard” and “frickin idiot” on the blacktop 😂 this movie was a huge part of my childhood lol
So my son was a freshman in high school when the movie came out and he and his friends saw it. In the beginning of his sophomore year, we had informed him that we were moving to Idaho. Being that the film was his only Idaho reference he totally freaked out! 🤣🤣🤣
I watched the movie yesterday and didn’t get it at all and originally thought it had no coherent storyline compared to other movies but this video explained a lot of the movie and helped me understand it a lot more, thanks man/gen. The movie really is just about the average life of a teenager back then.
Great analysis, I have watched the film so many times and I had never thought about the pain and defensiveness Napoleon felt that could explain his behavior, which I had chalked up to just eccentricness.
I’m a truck driver. When i go to various customers i say “(my company name) here to make your logistics dreams come true.” I just love weirding out people, and ND is a major source of inspiration.
If someone did that to me I couldn't even hold the pencil for the signature. I would have to bend over to not choke on laughter. There is a similar thing in my country. It goes: "Thank you for travelling with Deutsche Bahn (means german railway)" What this phrase really means is: "Wow, you can really take a lot of pain, dude! Respect!"
I was in the Boise airport right after this movie came out. Almost everyone I passed was talking about it or saying lines from it. I'd never seen anything like that in my life! Phenomenal
11:29, even though this is only the BTS footage. You unlocked my core memory of watching "the time machine" scene. I was just laugh crying for the last 5 minutes 🤣
I watched this movie again recently, and couldn’t get over the fact that almost every scene would make me laugh out loud. There’s honestly very few movies that I’ve experienced that in my life.
Once again, you knocked it out of the park with this video essay. Agreed with everything you said, and your diction, pacing and script just flow so well. I can really feel the effort and care you put into your scripts. Your videos are rare UA-cam gold :))
The magic of this film to me was that it was so different. The humor hit differently than anything out there today. Despite no big stars, every actor was perfect and they really gave life to each and every character. I am not sure there is a movie out there even to this day with so many quotable lines from so many different characters from the same film.
Your mom goes to college. I saw this after someone got it for Christmas. I normally wouldn't have ever watched it but they put it on. I was stunned by this movie. I knew so many kids like Napoleon and they nailed it so perfectly, I couldn't look away.
There's a guy in that lives across the street from our church who has an 80s van and car, wears big 80s glasses and plaid shirts, trims his yard with shears, and has a bowl haircut. He often sits out in his driveway on a plaid 80s folding chair. We've never met the man, but refer to him as Uncle Rico. Our neighbor about died laughing one time when we mentioned uncle rico, and said he knew exactly who we were talking about.
I saw it in a theater, just passing time due to a flight delay. I thought it was pretty bad until I arrived at my destination that next day. Explaining it to a family member made it way more entertaining and I bought this DVD when it came out months later. Now its a family favorite.
We watched this with our teenage daughters when it came out. I hated it, the girls loved it, and their Dad loved it, too. After watching it a few more times, I fell in love with the movie. It's sweet and has a great message. We even bought Vote For Pedro t-shirts for my husband that Xmas, lol.
I have been in love with this movie since the first time i saw it, back when i was like 11 years old. It's, without a doubt, the movie ive seen the most in my life. even now, as a 31 year old, its still just so damn relatable as someone who spent lots of time in small idaho/utah towns growing up (every family trip growing up was going to see more family). I will never stop loving this movie. It's my comfort movie.
I saw it in theaters with my best friend Tristan in I want to say 2004. It was, and still is one of my favorite movies ever made. It didn’t matter that me and my friend were skater kids; the nerds, the jocks and every kid in between quoted this movie and it always got a laugh, which usually snowballed into more quotes and more laughs. Legendary
What an amazing analysis! I am amazed by the depth and breadth of your ability to dissect such a wide variety of aspects of the film, while connecting them to aspects of real life. You must be a genius! Totally brilliant!
I remember watching this back when it first came out and thinking exactly what you said--it was much more accurate to real teenage life than other teenage movies where everyone is balls to the walls energetic, dramatic, and insane.
I got the exact same emotion watching this film the 1st time as "The Room." Which was, TF is this? Some student film or arthouse flick? Upon multiple watches I got it
fun fact the liger scene was a VERY subtle joke about the 1995 incident in Lava Hot Springs, ID when some lions, tigers, ligers and hybrid wolves escaped a compound called Ligertown Game Farm.
From actors I immediately recognized uncle from role he played in The Pretender show and self-defence flag pants guy from Drew Carey Show. Then one time when Waterworld was played in TV I recognized Deb (she played the small girl).
My mom grew up in rural oregon. One day coming home on the bus they pulled up to her house and her dad was shooting a cow in the yard. So when she saw this movie she laughed and cried and laughed and then cried, lol
We quoted this film for our entire childhood im happy to Report my 11 year old has seen it and has picked up some quotes 😂 she kills it with laughs at school
Another great video man! I feel like my comments on your every video are the same haha, but your videos are great! Love your narration and the topics you choose, I always learn something new even if I know a lot about the video subject. Keep up the good work🔥
I was 26. Still young enough for this movie to definitely stick. And also from a small town. Right at the time when "the Internet" was opening the world up to us. I love the way the film is set in an ambiguous time period. Yes they have chatrooms, but the style is...when, exactly? When is this movie supposed to take place, if you take out the reference to chatrooms? And now, 20 years later, I have become Uncle Rico :)
We were discussing this among my (large multi-generational) family the other day, and we feel the film hit Gen X, Xennials and even some Millennials heavily. The entire experience so competently portrayed in this film is relatable to all three, I would say particularly Xennials and late in the generation Gen X. They did such a good job on being RELATABLE at a basic level that it crosses generations easily.
It takes place in 2004 as Napoleon's student card says it's the 2004-2005 school year. The reason everything looks 80's is probably supposed to evoke how behind in style the town is.
@@mikeg3439 Xennials. Someone recognizes us! Lost between Gen X (which I never felt a part of) and Millennials (who were loathed by Boomers until everyone's rage was transferred onto Gen Z).
@@simonster-9094 Yes. It obviously takes place in the present time, as I said it makes reference to chatrooms and dial-up Internet hogging the phone. It's just stylistically set all over the place, which is such a part of its charm. Now, movies have ironically almost totally lost the ability for us to place them in any specific time wherever they are set unless you see someone actually pull out their phone or drive a Tesla, because stylistically so little has changed since about the mid-1990s, which is due to the homogenization brought on by the Internet. I find it funny that in flashbacks or time travel films to 20 or 30 years ago, now they have to resort to blaring the music of the era or flip phones to make sure we know when it was set. Unlike if it's set in the 80s :D
@@squamish4244 lol loathed yes, even loathed by a lot of Gen X, and now as time goes by, Gen X more and more finds itself allied with not just Xennials, but with the maturing Millennials who are growing wiser and developing a mindset more understandable to us. And yes, everyone is kind of united in loathing the worst of Gen Z (I say the worst of because many of them are great kids and I hope they dominate moving forward, the worst of Gen Z is just f__king loathsome, even Gen Z doesn't really like Gen Z very much).
My father in law grew up near Preston in the 1970s...suffice it to say that he really got this film. There were somethings he got that the rest of us didn't.
I’m the only person I’ve know who actually saw this film in theaters. Nobody in the theater laughed and one of them said “This is so dumb”. But looking back I see the genius of this film. It’s so quotable.
I've never managed to get through it because it just isn't my thing, but what i remember of the little I've seen, i see it as a film about autistic students in a small town trying to find their place within it and finding friendship with eachother. I perhaps see it that way due to my own experience, aspects being relatable in the context of autism.
@@txwtw The general awkwardness to begin with, albeit surface level but not without causes related to varying degrees of social retardation which is what "high functioning" autism mainly is. Not so much anything that can be suggested as a lack of intellect or ability, but an inability to perform in a social context. It's the anxiety from discomfort, not having an intrinsic reading of others, I guess a struggle to empathise or otherwise too much empathy and difficulty in relaying it or dealing with it, fear of mistakes etc (perhaps reinforced by bullying), making social interaction much harder than it appears to be for others. And also difficulty in self regulation, in how you express yourself, your tone, being off-beat with your humour etc. What's the main guys name in the film, Napoleon? Anyway, he displays some degree of the above. He's also monotone in his speech, and when asked about something he's interested in he'll give detail and I can imagine were it not a film with time constraints, go balls deep on it to the regret of whoever made the enquiry, at least if that person is "normal". But in turn, he forgets to ask their interest because it's just not something that is naturally considered, that mindset of not so much self absorption by intent but being too much in your own world as a means to combat various issues such as anxiety or sensory overload. When in a social setting, or outside environment, it can be harder to speak to autistic people without knowing their interest beforehand. But if you're someplace where they are totally comfortable, it somewhat melts away their anxieties and they open up and become more inquisitive of others and talkative. Perhaps to fairly personal degrees, but that's part of the social retardation, to not know exactly where the lines are drawn, only that they exist but you can't see them so well, if at all. I use retardation correctly here so please don't be getting offended by it. It means to be held back or delayed, and a notable aspect is the delay in social ability, amongst other things depending on how each individual is wired. I'm comfortable using it in reference to myself as both a genuine medical term, I am socially retarded, and also a self depreciating sense when I get annoyed by my inability to achieve what to others is a very basic thing. It is what it is. To answer that question from a more personal perspective, I relate to that awkwardness, and that somewhat catanic feel to daily life because you don't fit in and it feels like you're either invisible or you're bullied, so you just kinda fade away into your own mind as a safe space until you find something or someone to, and not to sound parasitic, latch onto as a way to draw yourself out and feel somewhat alive and worthwhile. I'm not diagnosed as autistic though (I narrowly missed the boat on the UKs education system actually giving a shit about it) so I could just be eternally depressed and have adhd, probably all three knowing my bloody luck. To be clear though, I haven't even seem the entire film. I'm going of what little I've seen and can relate to, but my reading of a situation could be wrong. Or just different.
@@djinnxx7050 I’ve seen the whole movie and I’m not quite sure if they are autistic or not, or even autistic coded, the characters may’ve simply just been awkward and thats probably just it idk however I do understand your perspective of it. Also yeah, as someone who is autistic I’m quite guilty of info dumping on my interests and forgetting to ask about the other’s interests and whatnot.
@@txwtwI'm autistic, and found the movie embarrassing the first time I saw it--my social ineptness was always combined with shame and a fear of appearing freakish. Napoleon is too unselfconscious to be an Aspie. I grew up in an urban setting, and a lot of my high school classmates were slick and pseudo-sophisticated even at that age. I hated their conformism, and did not try to copy them. My friends were all in orchestra.
Some other things I liked about this movie that is related to your summary: Kip finding love despite seemingly having a lot going against him physically and financially. Despite that he did not get angry at the world and kept chatting up those babes ALL DAY. Many men today could learn a thing from that. I also appreciated how they portrayed the closeness in Mexican families and how Pedro's cousins automatically had Napoleon's back as soon as they knew he was helping Pedro and was his friend.
The opening credits are the most creative ones I've ever seen.
fr its like:
3: Deadpool and Wolverine
2: Napoleon Dynamite
1: Shrek
@@tenacioustravicious7871 Haven't seen the new deadpool yet, but I guarantee you it's NOT that good my guy
It's all I can think of when I hear that White Stripes song...
@@tenacioustravicious7871ew
It is funny you should mention that, I asked my friends husband what his favorite part of the movie was and he said the credits. I have seen the move quite a few times and honestly I don;t think I ever ever even noticed them (before I asked him about it then I saw his attraction).
I have to say the Muhammad mclovin scene would have gotten that exact reaction from me if i had heard that in real life
That scene always makes me lose it. I love both movies!
Funny Story about this movie, my late grandfather absolutely loved it. It was so funny seeing a tiny Hispanic priest who usually was so serious all the time in hysterics over some awkward teens in funny situations.
How was your grandfather a priest?
@@findsharonHispanic Episcopalian??
a Jew, with business?
@@findsharon orthodox priest are allowed to marry and there is a couple of cases of converted Anglicans in the catholic church my priest is married and im a catholic
I went with my grandpa to see this too he always read the news paper and found some theater in Houston doing a sneak preview and he loved it. We lived in a town reminiscent of Napoleon’s.
The closing song, as they play tether ball, always makes me tear up
🎶 I’m sorry but I’m just thinkin of the right words to say 🎶
me too lol
“The Promise” by When in Rome
You just made the whole scene play in my head
It gives me a deep sense of nostalgia for some reason- sad to see it end.
i love how at the end at the movie there just are a bunch of trees the sunset and everything feels more comfortable rather than the awkwardness i felt the whole movie, i love that everyone i sympathize with gets a happy ending.
I hate that it’s been 20 years already 😭😂
"i see youre drinking 1%.. is that cause you think youre fat?" Lmao When they show napolens drawing of trish is still sooo funny to me
We live in a small town not far from where this was filmed. As a fun joke, my son asked a girl to homecoming by drawing a similar (less unflattering) picture and delivering a cake similar to Pedro's for Summer. He wrote a bunch of Napoleon Dynamite quotes on the poster with her "picture" inviting her to homecoming.
She and her family had never seen the movie! Her mom was all, "Oh... that's really. . . nice?"
It totally ruined the feel of the invitation but also made it somehow more funny. She still agreed to go and was able to laugh about it later, but it blew our minds that someone, especially so near the film location, hadn't seen the movie. 🤦♀️
Best pick up line ever, been using it a lot and now I'm chatting with babes all day
I met the actors of Napoleon, Pedro and Rico in real life. They were all really cool
I recently met Jon Heder at my nephews school. His daughter and my nephew are in the same class. People take pic with him around town. He’s super nice and chatted with my family for a minute.
lucky!!!!
That’s really sweet. Gosh!
I can’t be the only one who thought this movie was an 80s movie when I was a child
I didn’t think it was an 80s movie but I always thought it was meant to be set in the late 80s or early 90s
@@TylerRamos-h2o early mid-90s. Chat rooms weren’t really a thing until then, and they were full of, mostly, people like Kip. And Pedro’s bike is 90s AF, with the shocks. That wasn’t really an 80s thing.
@@TylerRamos-h2oit takes place in 2004, but the point is before the internet became a huge thing, small towns were still stuck in the early 90s style wise.
@@willrunriothehe looks so much like my 30 year old Giant bike, still ride it to this day
@@TylerRamos-h2o i grew up in rural idaho. We really are 2 decades in the past. We are just now getting to the early 2000s
The comment about the popular kids is spot on. There really isn't cruelty in the movie and that makes the movie very uplifting and different. It's like they are bound together by the same boredom or that the town is so small that everyone is connected by a few degrees of separation.
Growing up I used to always say "Your mom goes to college" as an insult with no idea what it meant or why it was funny. It basically just functioned as a Shibboleth to see if peers understood what I was referencing. ND was perfect for these types of shibboleth.
Nice word
I just realized ND, despite being a pretty common abbreviation for a host of things, it also stands for "Neurodivergent" and I assure you, a lot of us felt something oddly familiar while watching this movie.
Nice Bible reference.
Indeed.
Napoleon Dynamite was barely marketed, too. My older sister and I saw it in theaters on a whim, it was empty. I remember being shocked at how good it was. It became a family favorite
Same. I don't remember seeing much advertising at all for it. Maybe on MTV I had seen a trailer. I eventually saw it on the home video DVD release at my friend's place one weekend. This was still back when it took 6 months or more for a theater release to hit the rental/retail market, instead of like three weeks nowadays. I was instantly like "what the hell was that" after it ended. I didn't know what to expect going in, but I knew as I was watching it that it was something different and special.
I remember being very little and all my older siblings’ friends and them were quoting it. It was a big deal at the time, at least I thought. I suppose you could say it went viral in a 2000s sort of way.
The only reason I even knew it existed is because my math teacher screened it for us one year 😅😅😅😅
@@UhOhJacquinette W math teacher, this movie rocks.
@@UhOhJacquinette Why would a math teacher screen a movie about.... nothing?
An unfortunate side effect of this movie was how self-aware indie movies became afterwards. Everyone was suddenly trying to be twee, earnest and cute and it suddenly felt inauthentic as a film movement
True
Yeah Juno is probably the only exception. So funny!
@@TheNerdistheWordlol what? Juno is the first movie anyone thinks of when you say “self-aware twee”
@@Uhohlisaliterally 😭
Sounds liike Harold from total drama island.
Ik he's not in total drama island.
I was 13 and I remember going to the theatre to see it in Calgary. It’s been my favourite ever since.
This literally is one of the greatest coming-of-age films of all time. It's so relatable and likable and just genuinely charming in such a comforting way that I am so happy it's been so ridiculously successful - it's not often these sorts of films HIT with the general public. And it's great that it really wasn't TRYING to be "oh so quirky and indie" like other films since... since then, there have been other borderline "indie mainstreams" like ME, EARL AND THE DYING GIRL, Be Kind Rewind and others... I also really loved the Hess' film GENTLEMAN BRONCOS.
Upvoted for Be Kind, Rewind.
I'm so appreciative that the internets allowed more and more to find out that there's others that love this film😄👏
I was in the theater opening weekend. People were literally standing up and cheering the final dance scene and full standing ovation at the credits. It was such an experience everyone was losing it
I live 2 hours away from Preston and this movie is my whole childhood
This is still one of my top 10 re-watchable movies.
The montage at the end is perfect. The rising score, Napoleon walking around town and seeing how everyone has evolved, and ending up at the the tetherball.
Do the chickens have large talons
😂
What?
"I don't understand a word you just said."
Hope you dont mind i pay you in change
Over there in that creekbed I found a couple of Shoshoni arrowheads.
This movie literally changed the movie landscape
How?
@@Vivi_9 that’s too long a discussion for a comment section, but you’re more than free to luck up a number of articles and papers regarding it. This movie is sited in several film classes I have taken over the years
No it didnt
@@popeye089
You have not taken several film classes, and you have provided ZERO evidence to back up your baseless claim.
@@mostawesomecomment6553 oh I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was supposed to educate you. Carry on with your sad life. Go read some books. Attend a discussion. 😂 get educated why don’t you
"I caught you a delicious bass" will always be one of my favorite lines.
as someone who lived in Southeast Idaho about 45 minutes from where this is filmed, I can confirm 100% that this movie is exactly what growing up there is like. 13/10 excellent movie
I'm 65 and have watched this movie 20 times. I find it brilliant!
This movie was huge where I came from because Jon Heder went to the same high school as we did. He was much older, but I was in school with his younger brother and knew him pretty well. He was an awesome dude. So when this movie came out everyone was clamoring about this movie that a kid from our town made.
Vote for Pedro.
and all your wildest dreams shall come true
"Your mom goes to college." - Kip
That's a line I repeat from time to time. So far, I don't think anyone has remembered it's from Napoleon Dynamite.
You’re right. The more I watch it the funnier it gets. I remember watching it when it came out and I was 14. I thought it was the stupidest movie I’d ever seen. Then I saw it again in my early 20s and laughed my head off. 20 years later I turn it on every once in a while and it just gets funnier and funnier every time. So quotable I love it so much!!
I saw it as an adult--totally didn't get it for about half the movie, but enjoyed it a lot by the end.
The slow piano with the clips kept me laughing
I was a missionary in many small towns in Idaho in the early 80s. This is so relatable. I'm from SoCal. Some parts of Idaho were like a foreign country. But full of good, decent people.
You couldn't walk around between 2006-2010 without hearing Napoleon Dynamite quotes
I remember going back to school after watching this over the weekend, all the 5th graders were saying “Tina you fatlard” and “frickin idiot” on the blacktop 😂 this movie was a huge part of my childhood lol
The actor who played the uncle really threw it over the mountains.
He’s in White Lotus on Netflix which is a great show to watch
So my son was a freshman in high school when the movie came out and he and his friends saw it. In the beginning of his sophomore year, we had informed him that we were moving to Idaho. Being that the film was his only Idaho reference he totally freaked out! 🤣🤣🤣
I think you managed to fit 99% of the movie's dialogue in this video
That’s one of the reasons I like this movie…. It’s super quiet. Every line has room to sizzle in silence like one of those old Hollywood dramas.
I watched the movie yesterday and didn’t get it at all and originally thought it had no coherent storyline compared to other movies but this video explained a lot of the movie and helped me understand it a lot more, thanks man/gen. The movie really is just about the average life of a teenager back then.
First time watching I felt the same. Second time I thought it was hilarious.
@@jh2519Ars you guys slow or something?
It takes a few views but then the charm comes through.
Its a part of american identity. When i first saw it i thought it was the worst movie i have ever seen, but now i understand its because im Polish.
Great analysis, I have watched the film so many times and I had never thought about the pain and defensiveness Napoleon felt that could explain his behavior, which I had chalked up to just eccentricness.
I’m a truck driver. When i go to various customers i say “(my company name) here to make your logistics dreams come true.”
I just love weirding out people, and ND is a major source of inspiration.
If someone did that to me I couldn't even hold the pencil for the signature. I would have to bend over to not choke on laughter. There is a similar thing in my country. It goes: "Thank you for travelling with Deutsche Bahn (means german railway)" What this phrase really means is: "Wow, you can really take a lot of pain, dude! Respect!"
One of the most qouteable movies ever. When people ask how much day was I still answer with "The worst day of my life what do you think?!"
I was in the Boise airport right after this movie came out. Almost everyone I passed was talking about it or saying lines from it. I'd never seen anything like that in my life! Phenomenal
Napoleon's horse shirt is so funny to me, it fits his personality so well.
One of the greatest films ever made. Every line, and I mean EVERY LINE is sheer, quotable poetry.
11:29, even though this is only the BTS footage. You unlocked my core memory of watching "the time machine" scene. I was just laugh crying for the last 5 minutes 🤣
T- (cough) turn it o- turn it off
itKILLS!
Your take makes me appreciate the film. I saw it when I was so young I couldn’t understand the film 😂
I watched this movie again recently, and couldn’t get over the fact that almost every scene would make me laugh out loud. There’s honestly very few movies that I’ve experienced that in my life.
jamiroquai was cooking some canned heat
Once again, you knocked it out of the park with this video essay. Agreed with everything you said, and your diction, pacing and script just flow so well. I can really feel the effort and care you put into your scripts. Your videos are rare UA-cam gold :))
What a kind thing to say, thank u so much! 🙏🏼
Was looking for this comment. Super easy to follow, movie clips timed perfectly. A+, you earned a subscriber.
I was in 7th grade when this came out and almost everyone in my grade had a Vote For Pedro shirt by the end of the year 😂
My husband cried from laughter while I sat with a WTF face the first time we saw it. I had to watch it a second time to appreciate it.
My husband hated this movie but then we found ourselves quoting it constantly 🤣
The magic of this film to me was that it was so different. The humor hit differently than anything out there today. Despite no big stars, every actor was perfect and they really gave life to each and every character. I am not sure there is a movie out there even to this day with so many quotable lines from so many different characters from the same film.
Your mom goes to college. I saw this after someone got it for Christmas. I normally wouldn't have ever watched it but they put it on. I was stunned by this movie. I knew so many kids like Napoleon and they nailed it so perfectly, I couldn't look away.
It's like a lion and a tiger mixed, bred for its skills in magic.
Great video, this was a trip down memory lane. I haven’t watched it in a few years and I will soon.
There's a guy in that lives across the street from our church who has an 80s van and car, wears big 80s glasses and plaid shirts, trims his yard with shears, and has a bowl haircut. He often sits out in his driveway on a plaid 80s folding chair. We've never met the man, but refer to him as Uncle Rico. Our neighbor about died laughing one time when we mentioned uncle rico, and said he knew exactly who we were talking about.
My first job was working at a day care. I worked with the older kids (9-12) and they all loved this movie. It was quoted to me constantly.
Lmao I still say "Luckyyy" in that same tone as Napoleon whenever the opportunity rises.
I saw it in a theater, just passing time due to a flight delay. I thought it was pretty bad until I arrived at my destination that next day. Explaining it to a family member made it way more entertaining and I bought this DVD when it came out months later. Now its a family favorite.
We watched this with our teenage daughters when it came out. I hated it, the girls loved it, and their Dad loved it, too. After watching it a few more times, I fell in love with the movie. It's sweet and has a great message. We even bought Vote For Pedro t-shirts for my husband that Xmas, lol.
I have been in love with this movie since the first time i saw it, back when i was like 11 years old. It's, without a doubt, the movie ive seen the most in my life. even now, as a 31 year old, its still just so damn relatable as someone who spent lots of time in small idaho/utah towns growing up (every family trip growing up was going to see more family). I will never stop loving this movie. It's my comfort movie.
I saw it in theaters with my best friend Tristan in I want to say 2004. It was, and still is one of my favorite movies ever made.
It didn’t matter that me and my friend were skater kids; the nerds, the jocks and every kid in between quoted this movie and it always got a laugh, which usually snowballed into more quotes and more laughs. Legendary
What an amazing analysis! I am amazed by the depth and breadth of your ability to dissect such a wide variety of aspects of the film, while connecting them to aspects of real life. You must be a genius! Totally brilliant!
When I said my vows at my wedding in 2006, I said "You know I do"
I still tear up when the crowd erupts for Napoleon after his dance. Another movie along these lines is Nacho Libre.
I remember watching this back when it first came out and thinking exactly what you said--it was much more accurate to real teenage life than other teenage movies where everyone is balls to the walls energetic, dramatic, and insane.
I have the same dvd my dad got like 10 years ago it still runs perfectly but it's scratched to hell brings back memories
We need to create a National "Come to Work as Your Favorite Movie Character" Day. Napoleon would be high on my list.
Im proud to say that this movie was filmed in my hometown
One of my favorite movies. It's a movie I have re-watched since it came out. I also like eagle vs. Shark which took alot of from Napoleon dynamite
I got the exact same emotion watching this film the 1st time as "The Room." Which was, TF is this? Some student film or arthouse flick? Upon multiple watches I got it
fun fact the liger scene was a VERY subtle joke about the 1995 incident in Lava Hot Springs, ID when some lions, tigers, ligers and hybrid wolves escaped a compound called Ligertown Game Farm.
“Your mom goes to college” from behind the door always gets me to this day 🤣
A great summary, still the funniest move of all time
From actors I immediately recognized uncle from role he played in The Pretender show and self-defence flag pants guy from Drew Carey Show. Then one time when Waterworld was played in TV I recognized Deb (she played the small girl).
I luckily had a mom that found this movie hilarious, so this movie definitely shaped my personality and humor
I remember my sister ordered us "Vote for Pedro" shirts pretty early and everyone thought we were so cool for 2 weeks 😂😂😂😂
My mom grew up in rural oregon. One day coming home on the bus they pulled up to her house and her dad was shooting a cow in the yard. So when she saw this movie she laughed and cried and laughed and then cried, lol
😅
"Do the chickens have large talons?" 😂
i love the director's other movie, Nacho Libre, too! it also has a similar feel to it
cant wait to see what he'll cook up in the Minecraft movie
This movie inspired us to drag toys behind our bus as well ahaha
This is my dad's favorite movie so it's got a HUGE soft spot in my heart!
my favorite movie of all time
Me too!
We quoted this film for our entire childhood im happy to
Report my 11 year old has seen it and has picked up some quotes 😂 she kills it with laughs at school
“You’re mom goes to college” will never not be rofl funny 😂
Another great video man! I feel like my comments on your every video are the same haha, but your videos are great!
Love your narration and the topics you choose, I always learn something new even if I know a lot about the video subject.
Keep up the good work🔥
Thank you so much for the kind words and support Philip ❤️ It’s much appreciated!
I was 26. Still young enough for this movie to definitely stick. And also from a small town. Right at the time when "the Internet" was opening the world up to us.
I love the way the film is set in an ambiguous time period. Yes they have chatrooms, but the style is...when, exactly? When is this movie supposed to take place, if you take out the reference to chatrooms?
And now, 20 years later, I have become Uncle Rico :)
We were discussing this among my (large multi-generational) family the other day, and we feel the film hit Gen X, Xennials and even some Millennials heavily. The entire experience so competently portrayed in this film is relatable to all three, I would say particularly Xennials and late in the generation Gen X. They did such a good job on being RELATABLE at a basic level that it crosses generations easily.
It takes place in 2004 as Napoleon's student card says it's the 2004-2005 school year. The reason everything looks 80's is probably supposed to evoke how behind in style the town is.
@@mikeg3439 Xennials. Someone recognizes us! Lost between Gen X (which I never felt a part of) and Millennials (who were loathed by Boomers until everyone's rage was transferred onto Gen Z).
@@simonster-9094 Yes. It obviously takes place in the present time, as I said it makes reference to chatrooms and dial-up Internet hogging the phone.
It's just stylistically set all over the place, which is such a part of its charm.
Now, movies have ironically almost totally lost the ability for us to place them in any specific time wherever they are set unless you see someone actually pull out their phone or drive a Tesla, because stylistically so little has changed since about the mid-1990s, which is due to the homogenization brought on by the Internet.
I find it funny that in flashbacks or time travel films to 20 or 30 years ago, now they have to resort to blaring the music of the era or flip phones to make sure we know when it was set.
Unlike if it's set in the 80s :D
@@squamish4244 lol loathed yes, even loathed by a lot of Gen X, and now as time goes by, Gen X more and more finds itself allied with not just Xennials, but with the maturing Millennials who are growing wiser and developing a mindset more understandable to us. And yes, everyone is kind of united in loathing the worst of Gen Z (I say the worst of because many of them are great kids and I hope they dominate moving forward, the worst of Gen Z is just f__king loathsome, even Gen Z doesn't really like Gen Z very much).
THIS MOVIE CHANGED MY LIFE. THANK YOU NAPOLEON
The greatest capture in all of film history. Almost documentary level. Haha!
My father in law grew up near Preston in the 1970s...suffice it to say that he really got this film. There were somethings he got that the rest of us didn't.
The fact that both actors have an identical twin makes it even more funnier. And the actor who played Don was in the Air Force.
I’m the only person I’ve know who actually saw this film in theaters. Nobody in the theater laughed and one of them said “This is so dumb”. But looking back I see the genius of this film. It’s so quotable.
All the characters live in a liminal space before it became a liminal space.
Being on the spectrum, it's also the most painfully accurate portrayal of autism I've seen.
I've never managed to get through it because it just isn't my thing, but what i remember of the little I've seen, i see it as a film about autistic students in a small town trying to find their place within it and finding friendship with eachother. I perhaps see it that way due to my own experience, aspects being relatable in the context of autism.
What aspects about it are relatable to autism?/genq (coming from someone who’s autistic)
@@txwtw The general awkwardness to begin with, albeit surface level but not without causes related to varying degrees of social retardation which is what "high functioning" autism mainly is. Not so much anything that can be suggested as a lack of intellect or ability, but an inability to perform in a social context. It's the anxiety from discomfort, not having an intrinsic reading of others, I guess a struggle to empathise or otherwise too much empathy and difficulty in relaying it or dealing with it, fear of mistakes etc (perhaps reinforced by bullying), making social interaction much harder than it appears to be for others. And also difficulty in self regulation, in how you express yourself, your tone, being off-beat with your humour etc.
What's the main guys name in the film, Napoleon? Anyway, he displays some degree of the above. He's also monotone in his speech, and when asked about something he's interested in he'll give detail and I can imagine were it not a film with time constraints, go balls deep on it to the regret of whoever made the enquiry, at least if that person is "normal". But in turn, he forgets to ask their interest because it's just not something that is naturally considered, that mindset of not so much self absorption by intent but being too much in your own world as a means to combat various issues such as anxiety or sensory overload. When in a social setting, or outside environment, it can be harder to speak to autistic people without knowing their interest beforehand. But if you're someplace where they are totally comfortable, it somewhat melts away their anxieties and they open up and become more inquisitive of others and talkative. Perhaps to fairly personal degrees, but that's part of the social retardation, to not know exactly where the lines are drawn, only that they exist but you can't see them so well, if at all.
I use retardation correctly here so please don't be getting offended by it. It means to be held back or delayed, and a notable aspect is the delay in social ability, amongst other things depending on how each individual is wired. I'm comfortable using it in reference to myself as both a genuine medical term, I am socially retarded, and also a self depreciating sense when I get annoyed by my inability to achieve what to others is a very basic thing. It is what it is.
To answer that question from a more personal perspective, I relate to that awkwardness, and that somewhat catanic feel to daily life because you don't fit in and it feels like you're either invisible or you're bullied, so you just kinda fade away into your own mind as a safe space until you find something or someone to, and not to sound parasitic, latch onto as a way to draw yourself out and feel somewhat alive and worthwhile. I'm not diagnosed as autistic though (I narrowly missed the boat on the UKs education system actually giving a shit about it) so I could just be eternally depressed and have adhd, probably all three knowing my bloody luck.
To be clear though, I haven't even seem the entire film. I'm going of what little I've seen and can relate to, but my reading of a situation could be wrong. Or just different.
@@djinnxx7050 I’ve seen the whole movie and I’m not quite sure if they are autistic or not, or even autistic coded, the characters may’ve simply just been awkward and thats probably just it idk however I do understand your perspective of it. Also yeah, as someone who is autistic I’m quite guilty of info dumping on my interests and forgetting to ask about the other’s interests and whatnot.
@@txwtwI'm autistic, and found the movie embarrassing the first time I saw it--my social ineptness was always combined with shame and a fear of appearing freakish. Napoleon is too unselfconscious to be an Aspie. I grew up in an urban setting, and a lot of my high school classmates were slick and pseudo-sophisticated even at that age. I hated their conformism, and did not try to copy
them. My friends were all in orchestra.
@0:45 that's Diedrich Bader. You might also recognize him from The Drew Carey show
Jethro Bodine in the Beverly Hillbillies movie.
Dude I never realized that lol 😂
Sometimes you don’t need a huge budget and fancy editing to make a movie awesome or even have big name actors as well
One of the movies i loved most and still love most
Some other things I liked about this movie that is related to your summary: Kip finding love despite seemingly having a lot going against him physically and financially. Despite that he did not get angry at the world and kept chatting up those babes ALL DAY. Many men today could learn a thing from that. I also appreciated how they portrayed the closeness in Mexican families and how Pedro's cousins automatically had Napoleon's back as soon as they knew he was helping Pedro and was his friend.
Brothers McMullen, Tiny Furniture Clerks, Multi Facial. I am fascinated by these movies where their creators took destiny in their own hands.
Great synapses dude. Well done.
Now the director is going on to do the Minecraft movie, now that’s stepping up in the world