30 Day Film Challenge-Day 9

​A film you hate that everyone liked

Let’s start off by getting all the hatred out of the way with this one. It’s a category designed to cause some controversy, but this was a no-brainer for me.

Napoleon Dynamite was suggested to me back in 2004 or 2005 when it was originally popular. The person who recommended it knew my taste in movies, knew my sense of humor, and surely thought this would be right up my alley. Sadly, this could not be further from the truth. At the time, I watched the movie with my girlfriend (now my wife) and we endured the entire 95-minute runtime of the film without much comment other than a few odd chuckles here and there. Once the credits rolled, we looked at each other, both trying to gauge the other’s reaction and fortunately were both in agreement that we had just wasted an hour and a half of our lives.

Now, that was 15 years ago, and I was willing to revisit this film again to see if my feelings changed any. I really wanted to change my mind and find some enduring qualities in the film, but there wasn’t much for me to grasp onto. The one bright spot I must highlight is the acting in the film. It takes a special level of dedication on the part of the actors to dive into the characters of this film so fully that the audience believes they are such loveable losers. I’ve seen Jon Heder in a few other roles and it’s clear that he can play other characters, even if he will forever be defined by Napoleon Dynamite.

I understand some of the memorable lines from the film that people quoted for some time after its release, but I don’t hear them much anymore. There certainly was a cult following in the mid to late-2000s, but time has faded that a bit and I’m not sure younger audiences connect with the film they way people did 15 years ago.

I don’t really know what else to say about this one. I didn’t like it the first time I saw it. I don’t like it now after seeing it again. If you’re a die-hard Dynamite fan, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Day 8 - A film where you like the soundtrack more | Day 10 - Your favorite superhero film

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