Napoleon Dynamite Critic Reviews

Jon Heder in the magnificent Napoleon Dynamite, is one of the most winning movie creations in years.Read the full review

I laughed. And I laughed primarily over Heder's hilarious performance. You ain't seen nothing till you've seen Napoleon attack that tether ball.Read the full review

An inspired dead-end stunt that keeps delivering snarky laughs far longer than it has any right to.Read the full review

Hess and his terrific cast -- Heder is geek perfection -- make their own kind of deadpan hilarity. You'll laugh till it hurts. Sweet.Read the full review

There's plenty of humor in the film, but the movie is often a little uncomfortable to watch, and Napoleon is not an easy guy to like. Rooting for him takes effort.Read the full review

An absurdist piece about a rural community of clueless cretins who careen through life like poorly played pinballs, Napoleon Dynamite represents the definition of the comedy of condescension and ridicule.Read the full review

Napoleon Dynamite is too low-wattage to be a true nerd anthem, but it's charming in retrospect.Read the full review

There isn't much Napoleonic grandeur in this Idaho-set high school comedy, which in spite of its most condescending instincts, does have its moments.Read the full review

The performances, even those by trained actors like Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Majorino, have the hesitant, blinking opacity that some directors look for in nonprofessional casts. Their awkwardness is charming, and part of the point of the movie, but it also makes for some dull stretches and thwarts your ability to regard the characters with sympathy rather than mere curiosity.Read the full review