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Rico is a middle aged man who lives in the past, and that's funny just...because. It isn't a consistent driver for the character's development. It's just a poorly executed, intermittent gag. Napoleon is a dork, so he says dorky things, which is funny because...he's a dork. Get it? Deb is a wilting violet with low self esteem so she mumbles and runs off screen at inappropriate times. Pedro is reserved and quiet so everything he says is muted and under his breath. And, he's Mexican so....get it? No really, do you get it?

Because I don't.

None of these factors seem to serve as consistent impulses for character development over the course of the movie. There's no hook to grab onto, there's no central theme to exploit. These people are just supposed to be funny because they're "stupid," which is inherently "funny," so it doesn't really matter what they "say" or "do" for 90 minutes, or whether or not these actions form any kind of coherent narrative. You might as well replace all the character names with "Poopy McPoophead" or "Seymour Butts," because this seems to be the level of comedic sensibility we're dealing with here.

Hell, the movie doesn't even have a proper protagonist or villain. Every nerd film needs a villain. Either an anti-nerd (Better off Dead) or an über nerd (Real Genius) must be present in any dork-centric film. But here, Napoleon's primary nemesis is a generic looking Aryan boy who is actually more boring than the hero. And as a hero, Napoleon is memorable only by virtue of being freakishly disturbing, and whether or not he's actually the Prime Mover in the story is debatable. But most important, there's so little to genuinely like about this flick or any of its characters. It's really hard to enjoy a film that is filled with such obvious contempt for itself.

A movie like Raising Arizona at least had the love of a child at the center of it. A television show like "King of the Hill" was consistently grounded in a solid family dynamic. Napoleon Dynamite seems content to have us point and laugh at the stupid rednecks, and that's about it. And while the movie is famously full of memorable quotes, as I mentioned, they need no context to be funny because the humor is all in the delivery. And once delivered, the thrill is gone. Napoleon Dynamite is a 90 minute documentary about boring people doing boring things for no reason other than because there's a camera around, and you are expected to laugh while you watch it just because the people who created it laughed while they made it.

If you liked Napoleon Dynamite for the six months it was really popular back in 2004, I'd say that makes you pretty normal. Sometimes a phenomenon sneaks up on us so fast that we instinctively engage, lest we be left out. Hey, some guy in the office just said "Vote for Pedro" and everyone laughed! I am now laughing too, even though I have no idea why that is funny! What a fantastic age we live in! And now I'll go to the water cooler and say something glib about Abu Ghraib or that tsunami, because...well... it seems as though that's the thing to do if you want to look like you're really cool and well informed.

But all these years later if the shine still hasn't worn off, I'm not sure what to say. Maybe you're a boring person with a boring life who still thinks you're cool because in our heads, we're all the hero of our own story. Maybe you live in a community that exists only because for some of us, having kids is a convenient way to achieve something without having any actual skills or talent. Maybe your idea of "steak" is that pile of desiccated shoe leather next to the popcorn shrimp at Golden Corral. Maybe your life is set to a soundtrack of 1980s B-sides despite the fact you hit puberty while George W. Bush was President.

Or, maybe you are just too easily amused. That's not a crime, but if so I'd suggest you check out Nacho Libre instead. It's written and directed by the same guy only it's surprisingly funny, unexpectedly touching and best of all, it has an actual plot. Or, just get out of the house and get some sun. Catch some mad air on your sweet bike. Unwind with some Rex Kwon Do. Draw a picture of a Liger. Or, if you dare, watch the first half of Napoleon Dynamite so you'll know what the hell I'm even talking about. But don't say I didn't warn you. That's Napoleon Dynamite sitting over there. Nobody likes him, but he's cooler than tofu, bottled water and recycling put together. So, we let him hang around anyway.

What a fantastic age we live in.

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