Napoleon Dynamite (2004) - You'll wanna visit Preston, Idaho!

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+ Best Dance Movie of the Year + Best Dollar Return of the Year: 115.25 Times the Cost + Best Idahoan Movie of the Year + Best High School Movie of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year

Jon Heder looks, well, ridiculous in moonboots and a brown suit on this funny poster for Jared Hess' Napoleon Dynamite

In small Idaho town Preston, Napoleon lives with his grandmother and uncle. His best friend is Pedro, who is running for student president at their high school. And a dance there is fast approaching.

Napoleon Dynamite is written by Jerusha Hess and her husband, debuting great Arizonan co-writer/director Jared Hess (Don Verdean (2015)). This cursing and sex-free teenage romcom lights up with originality and humanity in all of its groovy parts.
We are invited to get to know all the weirdos, all the imperfect people of Preston, and if the script is a bit lean, the film makes up for it with wonderful music and precise, memorable photography full of good, static compositions, (by Munn Powell (Gentlemen Broncos (2009))). And, of course, Jon Heder (Wildlife (2014, short)) is a dancing sensation as the title character, and Efren Ramirez (Mad Families (2017)) is hilarious as his buddy Pedro.

 

Related post:

 

Jared Hess: 2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here 

Cost: 400k $
Box office: 46.1 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 115.25 times its cost)
[Napoleon Dynamite premiered 17 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 95 minutes. The film is inspired by Hess' short film Peluca (2003). Shooting took place in Idaho, including the real Preston, and in Utah in 23 days from July - August 2003. A reportedly substantial part of the tiny budget was spent on music rights licensing. Heder was paid only 1,000 $ for his performance but later renegotiated and received an undisclosed cut of the film's profits. The film opened #29 to a 116k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 1,024 theaters, grossing 44.5 mil. $ (96.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1 mil. $ (2.2 %) and Australia with 0.38 mil. $ (0.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star review, translating to 4 notches worse than this one. It was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit awards and a Grammy, among other honors. The cast and filmmakers returned with a same-titled TV-series in 2012, which was canceled after 6 episodes. Hess returned with The Postal Service: We Will Become Silhouettes (2005, short) and theatrically with Nacho Libre (2006). Heder returned in 2 shorts and a TV-series, before he returned to the big screen in Just Like Heaven (2005). Napoleon Dynamite is fresh at 71 % with a 6.31/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Napoleon Dynamite?

Blades of Glory (2007) - Copycat comedy about ice figure skating

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Will Ferrell and Jon Heder peacock it out on this poster for Josh Gordon and Will Speck's Blades of Glory

QUICK REVIEW:

In an alternative reality, ice figure skating is the biggest thing in sports, and the two leading male single ice skaters get excluded from the sport after a scandal. Albeit only to return, - as a pair!
Glory is pretty much an ice skating version of the Ben Stiller-starring Dodgeball (2004) (Stiller was also one of the producers of Blades of Glory). But Glory isn't quite as much fun.
By all means, there are laughs; a movie about a male figure skating pair in a variety of overly silly skating outfits could hardly be totally un-amusing, and Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)) is pretty funny, although this isn't one of his best films. But his buddy in the film is played by an unfunny Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite (2004)), and the style of it simply seems too copied.
Still in all, especially at this particular time in age, the time of the deeply bizarre Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, - what better way to celebrate winter sports than to refuse to watch the Russian idiocy and watch Blades of Glory instead?
The film is directed by a male directing pair, which is a little fun fact; Josh Gordon and Will Speck (The Switch (2010)).
Anyway here's a couple of stills from the ridiculous skating acts that Ferrell and Heder perform in this sports farce comedy. Click to enlarge.

Related reviews:

Will Ferrell: Anchorman: The Legend Continues (2013) - Decent sequel with several laughs
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - Burgundy reigns supreme

Watch the fun trailer for the movie here

Budget: Between 53-61 mil. $
Box office: 145.7 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Blades of Glory?
And of the Russian Winter Olympics 2014?
Which is weirder?