Mark and Barb Go to the Movies

Napoleon Dynamite (dir. Jared Hess) In the history of humankind, a timeless story line is the hell of being young, and this zero-budget movie brings something all its own to the genre. Think Welcome to the Doll House, only animated by a what-the-hell sweetness instead of rage. Napoleon is my kind of annoying outcast misfit. He accepts the everyday sadism of jocks and cheerleaders who look down on him and rough him up and, almost in spite of himself, collects a posse of like-fated souls: a soft-spoken Mexican ladies' man and a young woman who goes takes glamor photos in her home studio, sells Guatemalan friendship bracelets door to door to pay for college, and calls Napoleon on the phone to tell him he's a "shallow friend" and she doesn't need the bust enhancement cream she thinks he sent her to feel good about herself. Right on! Mark's review: ***½