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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.

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.

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!

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.

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?'

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

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

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.

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.

"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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The first time I watched this movie15-20 years ago, I distinctly remember my dad walking into the room right after the movie started carrying a stack of firewood to build a fire in the fireplace. He sat down with the firewood in his lap throughout the entire movie. He couldn't build a fire until the movie ended because he literally could not tear his eyes from the screen or stop laughing long enough. I can't watch this movie without thinking of my dad laughing to the point of tears for over an hour hugging a stack of firewood. The next year, our family had a "Napolean Dynamite Dance-Off" at our family reunion with prizes. Needless to say, it's forever a family favorite!

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 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'm 38 years old and saw this movie back in 2004 on opening weekend. I'd seen plenty of comedy movies and all the teen comedys and parody movies up until that point but this was something different. It was a weird theater experience without a whole lot of laughs. It all just felt really off-beat. I remember wanting my time and money back a little bit on the way home from the show. Something strange happened in the weeks and months to come though. I couldn't stop thinking about this absurd movie and every time I thought back to parts of it they were really funny. Then I'd go and convince my friends to watch this just to watch their reaction to the absurdity. I've only ever seen this movie once directly, but man did I enjoy watching you take this all in for the first time. Thank you for another very entertaining video. Take care James!

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.

The static shots The editing The acting that is so bad it is great The white bread aesthetic All work together so well Congratulations on 100K

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! 😂

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 😂

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

I’m glad my man recognized the greatness of the seen where Uncle Rico really opens up. Such an underrated moment of acting.

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

This was my favorite movie in middle school, I feel like it'll probably have a nostalgic cultural resurgence soon.

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

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

This movie truly is iconic! I was blown away by the humour and odd characters that just worked! I didn't see this until I purchased it on DVD. After owning it for a few years...I was re-watching it one day and let the DVD run to the end (I think I was doing some dishes or something). There is an almost 5 minute post credit scene that I never knew existed until I saw it by accident. Back in the early 2000's post credit scenes were "not" the norm. It's worth a watch if you missed it James. Vote Pedro!!

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.

I can tell you with certainty why Napoleon Dynamite is so popular. I went to school in the 80s and 90s and the nods to those eras is overwhelming in this film. When I saw Napoleon's character, I realized I already knew this kid. There were literally kids just like that in school back then. Moon boots, those pants, trapper keepers, and an awkward kid that tells the most outlandish lies. Everything felt familiar. So for those who were (or had kids) in the 70s/80s/early 90s, this struck a very nostalgic nerve. It was a little place that was lost in time, capturing so much of what we remember.

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.

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.

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 :)

I loved seeing Jon Gries as Uncle Rico. He was in one of the best 80’s movies Real Genius.

CONGRATS ON 100K JAMES!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 👊 So well deserved. Have loved the journey, thank you. Here’s to the next 100K!

The director of this also did "Nacho Libre" which is one of my favorite comedies and also has a lot of the same cool camera work as this one.

That was a great insight, that this movie somehow implants nostalgia in you even if you never lived that life. So cool how it manages to do that. In my experience, the reason it became so prevalent is being quotable. There are a lot of weird lines, and weirder deliveries, and even though I didn't like the movie the first time I watched it, my friends and I could not stop saying "Tina, you fat lard" and "but my lips hurt real bad!" and "I want that" etc etc etc. Basically reciting the entire movie to each other.

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 🤔

Super fun reaction! When this first came out, my husband and I were “WTF did we just watch?”…. But as the night and days went on.. we started processing and quoting so much of the movie. I’m glad your first viewing was a joyous one! Gosh!!!

I went to a very large High School for my Freshman year and then move to a small town, farming community. It was actually like going back in time by about 10-15 years, which was actually awesome. This film manages to create an amalgam of the 60's-90's while giving us a unique and nastalgic film.

I love so many things about this movie but one of my favorite is the look of disappointment on the wife’s face when her husband fails to tear the Tupperware. Brilliant

Despite how mainstream this movie became, it was one of the first movies I remember having that quirky, "indie" feel to it. Before that really became a popular artistic choice. Like the opening for Juno always vaguely reminded me of the intro for this as well as the music.

I love your reactions, James. Keep up the great content!

Congrats on 100K!! 🎊

I love how you touched on how it feels like you are in a different dimension but you don’t know if you wanna be there but you also don’t want to leave. That’s also partially why I think so many people people gravitated themselves to this movie it’s also very hilarious

Congrats on 100k!!! 🥳

I watched this right when it came out in theaters. I was 14 or 15 at the time and it was the most I've ever laughed in a movie theater! Grew up in rural-ish midwest and soooo many of the settings just fit. So many of the personalities. It just.. Everything about this film resonated

I recently came to the conclusion that Napoleon Dynamite is almost like an American Studio Ghibli film. Not to detract from either, but I found it’s similar in the way that is tells a sort of isolated story where the conclusion isn’t necessarily a grand ending for a huge story, but a great ending for the character we’ve spent an entire movie with. Idk maybe I’m on a fever dream ramble, but the mundane moments and plots are brought to life with such charm, u gotta love it.

Your response to the drawing Napoleon did for that girl... I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Love the reaction James!!!

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 KZfaq. Look it up!

I love your channel my guy, keep up the content💪🏽

Oh yes!! Thank you for watching this Movie! This is such a huge movie for me. Growing up and still living in a small town, this to me is a small town hero movie that really hits me in the feels!! Keep it up!

Learning how much of "Licorice Pizza" is taken from life was interesting. Learning how much of "Napoleon Dynamite" is autobiographical for its director was astounding. Cast includes director's family, teachers, etc.

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.

Congrats on 100k bro...I'm a fan

deadass was the first film we had to analyze in film class in high school. made me appreciate the artistic merit of the movie instead of brushing it off as a good dry comedy movie

100k! Congratz.

Congrats on 100k bro , you have blown up

Such a great film, one of the best and difficult films to watch for how real and silly it depicts growing up in the northern United States. I feel that there was a Napoleon Dynamite in almost everyone's high school around this area!

Honestly James, every time theres an reaction to these older movies no matter what genre, it puts the biggest smile on my face. It feels like I’m watching the movie for the first time again. It also reinvigorate my passion into films and writing. I honestly want to thank you man keep up the great work my guy 🙏🏼🙏🏼

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.

I put this movie on when I went to bed for over 100 days straight when I was in school, would watch it all the way through and if I didn’t fall asleep I’d press play again and somehow it never got old

Probably one of my all time favorite movies. Would recommend checking out the deleted/bonus scenes. I really enjoy this movie due to how it doesnt feel like it tries to appeal to everybody, where those who get it - get it

One of my cousins was an exec with Fox Searchlight who played a role in bringing the film from film festival to American mainstream distribution in the US. He gave me an official T shirt from the production. One part of the appeal of the film is its overall quirkiness. Another, is the same phenomenon that makes it so hard not to peek at a car accident. Napoleon is so awkward. He is a train wreck and reminds us of our teenage moments of awkwardness. Hopefully our glimpse of Napoleon’s life makes us feel good that we were not quite as much of a mess when we were teens. The characters are brilliant and fleshed out nicely. I think people also really enjoy the culture shock of late 90s early 2000s rural Idaho. Gosh!

I had the greatest experience seeing this. Me and my friends went to the cinema to see something else but it was sold out so we went to see this instead. I had no idea what it was. I hadn't seen a trailer or even a movie poster. It Instantly became one of my favourite movies. I will never tire of it.

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.

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

I like to think of this movie like a memory that you only just recalled, the colors may not have been exactly how you remember them as a kid, but you still remember the color. You don't remember the exact words you and your friends exchanged in school, but you remember the general idea of what you talked about (hence the simplistic dialogue). The movie is designed to throw you into a shared childhood that we all relate too no matter how you specifically remember it or not. We all had "that" teacher, we all had "those" friends, we all remember "that" moment, etc.

"I'm so mad at the uncle. I want to destroy him!" 🤣🤣🤣 Rex-quan-do's got you covered! Diedrich Bader has some hilarious roles. Never more so than Beverly Hillbillies. I also enjoy seeing John Gries (Uncle Rico) pop up in stuff. He's a great 'that guy'.

Awesome movie and great reaction as always my dude!! 👍...thanks 😁

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

Doing this one after Rumble in the Bronx, you're hitting the real classics! You hit it right on the head with the Thanos comment. To me, Napoleon is one of the great film heroes; him having the guts to be selfless and to go out and do that dance for his best friend, without any idea of what the outcome may be, really does make it feel just like superheroes fighting a big world destroying villain!

The scene where the kids in the schoolbus see the farmer shooting the cow actually happened to Jared Hess when he was a kid growing up in Idaho.

Filmed in Idaho. A geographic and underrated gem. While you were watching this, I was practicing my bowstaff. 🤣

Congrats on reaching 100k subscribers!😃