Monday, November 07, 2005

Napoleon Dynamite

A mostly charming vignette of high school life from Retardsville Idaho. Whilst there are plenty of little jokes we did appreciate, there's an underlying meta-joke that consistently eluded us. ("The phantom joke", according to V.)

You feel you ought to able to describe this film as original and different, but you can't really because all the characters are grounded in cliché and the overall scenario is too stylised. Compare for example Alexander Payne's Election, whose dramatis personae remain believable in all their kookiness.