Napoleon Dynamite (2004) poster
2004 · comedy

Napoleon Dynamite

Directed by Jared Hess1h 35m2004
ElsewhereIMDb7.0253kRT72%Metacritic64TMDB6.82k
  • warm
  • gentle
  • inventive
  • intimate
Movie DNA

Warm, steady, gentle comedy, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.

Our read · Napoleon Dynamite (2004) reads as a warm, steady, inventive comedy entry — gentle in intensity, intimate in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
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The shape of Napoleon Dynamite

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want deadpan Idaho weirdness that rewards patience with pure joy.

ends upliftingyou’ll feel glowing aftera slow buildgrips by minute 12attention 2/5breezes by
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upcringe humiliation

Skip it tonightAwkward silences and minimal plot make you restless within ten minutes.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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