Monday, August 30, 2004

Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State

Napoleon Dynamite is a good film. It’s actually funny. It has a lot of sight gags, developed jokes and deadpan humor. I’m not going into details because surprise is important to how much you enjoy the film. Also, the film’s quirky style is funny on its own. In many of the scenes, the characters would walk onto the scene and land right on their mark, then convincingly recite their lines, then walk off the scene. Funny stuff. This one will appear in my DVD collection.

Garden State is a depressed romantic comedy. It has some sight gags, developed jokes and deadpan humor. But the movie’s pace is slow, and is almost (but not quite) tedious. The joke payoffs weren’t enjoyable enough to justify the pace. Additionally, when the big horrific character reveal occurred, I found myself not really caring. However, the acting is good, but then again, how hard is it really to look constantly annoyed? Anyways, the movie could have been more enjoyable if it had a big punch. More detail about the father (and less emphasis on the best friend) would’ve helped. It was a mildly entertaining film. Not DVD collection worth.

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