Napoleon Dynamite

"He's out to prove he's got nothing to prove."

2004 1h 35m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 2,269

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“He's out to prove he's got nothing to prove.”

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Cast

Jon Heder
Napoleon Dynamite
Efren Ramirez
Pedro Sanchez
Tina Majorino
Deb
Aaron Ruell
Kip
Jon Gries
Uncle Rico
Sandy Martin
Grandma
Diedrich Bader
Rex
Haylie Duff
Summer Wheatley

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jared Hess
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $46M — a 115.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jared Hess, shot by Munn Powell. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Swihart. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jeremy Coon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez and Tina Majorino carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He's out to prove he's got nothing to prove.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jared Hess directs. Munn Powell behind the camera. John Swihart scores. Jeremy Coon cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $46M — a 115.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released 22 years ago.
4Directed by Jared Hess, shot by Munn Powell. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by John Swihart. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jeremy Coon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez and Tina Majorino carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "He's out to prove he's got nothing to prove.".
9IMDB entry: tt0374900 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "underdog", "high school", "sibling relationship", "idaho".

The technical file

Cinematography: Munn Powell
Original score: John Swihart
Editing: Jeremy Coon
Production design: Cory Lorenzen
Costume design: Jerusha Hess
Makeup / hair: Steve Costanza
Sound: Mark Linden
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $400,000
Box office: $46,118,097
Return: 11530% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Awards

Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
Satellite Award for Best Original Score
MTV Movie Award for Best Movie

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Jared Hess

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-01-31
★ 6/10
Jon Heder is the eponymous high school student who lives with his brother "Kip" (Aaron Ruell) at the home of his grandmother (Sandy Martin). Now she's a bit of a game girl and manages to come off her buggy whilst racing in the sand dunes and so their womanising tupperware salesman uncle "Rico" (Jon Gries) turns up to provide them with steak and keep them in check. "Kip" has fallen madly in love with a girl he met on the internet; his sibling - a bit of a geeky loner - alights on school newbie "Pedro" (Efren Ramirez) whom he decides to help defeat the school sweetheart "Summer" (Haylie Duff) to the prestigious class presidency. This is a little bit on the edgier side of the frequently saccharine-filled MTV movies, and Heder is actually quite good as the drippy but quite switched-on young man increasingly infatuated with "Deb" (Tina Majorino) - whose hair appears to grow at right angles from her skull! There are a few titters to be had, but I fear this hasn't aged especially well and for those non-Americans amongst us, the humour has pretty much evaporated into a series of predicable skits and characterisations that possibly challenged convention twenty years ago, but fall pretty flat in 2024. It passes ninety minutes easily enough with a soundtrack to elicit a nice dose of nostalgia for Alphaville, Cyndi Lauper and even the "A-Team" but I doubt I'd watch it again.
portman1232024-03-06
★ 6/10
Original, unique, bizarre, hilarious! * I love all the whacky and authentic and heartwarming characters from this movie. * I think it has a kind of bedroom pop vibe to it. Alot of bedroom pop music videos look and feel similar with the fashion and ideas they riff on. * I love the environment they're in. Wide open, sparse midwestern town. The American landscape is big and cool. * This movie is a brilliant example that art doesn't need a huge budget to transcend mediocrity.