Napoleon Dynamite

Director: Jared Hess
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 3.5

Hysterical look at outsider high school kids and their isolation from the 'popular' kids - the difference between both sectors is most obvious during the school dance, where the 'cool' kids are just so perfectly well-adjusted and the outsiders - well aware they are outsiders - are wearing suits from the 80's and have their hair shoved to one end of their head (when you are an outsider, you tend to feel like everyone else excels in everything you do not, not realizing they have just as many flaws). The accusations of condescension isn't fair - the only character I felt Hess looked down upon was the football failure Uncle caught in a time warp - because it's so clear that he loves these awkward creations: he (for the most part) lets them be completely oblivious to their own plight (no matter what happens, they forge on) and even rewards them with their own happy endings (how long the happiness lasts is debatable). It's been a long time for an American teen comedy to have me laughing so continuously, and the number of memorably dry one-liners and sight gags goes well into the dozens.