“Napoleon Dynamite” gave Jon Heder a career in film, but the aw-shucks comedian has yet to prove he deserves one.
He sure made “ND” his own. I didn’t fall for the quirky comedy like so many others did, and a second viewing only confirmed my suspicions “ND” was a manufactured mess. But there’s no hiding how good Heder was in the title role. He’s been playing variations of that character ever since, but it’s yet to have a fraction of the impact. Just check out “Blades of Glory” for proof. Co-star Will Ferrell gets all the laughs, while Heder hangs on as a nebbishy straight man looking to pick up the comic scraps.
My original Washington Times review details how “Napoleon Dynamite” mocks its characters rather than building a farcical story around them.
(Photo: Jon Heder broke into films as the uber-nerd hero in “Napoleon Dynamite”)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Stephanie 08.02.08 at 11:25 pm
Christian
Freddy Prinz Jr. is a Republican as is his wife…that might have something to do with his slow fade from view. Since everyone in blogdom has been yapping about black lists that could be a whole question that we could ask out loud…..
cftoto 08.03.08 at 12:05 am
Stephanie,
I didn’t know that … in the case of Prinze, Jr. you could certainly tag his descent on bad movie choices … but his politics may not have helped his cause. Thanks for the info … if you have more specifics on him please let me know.
Ken Bendor 08.03.08 at 5:58 pm
Actually, Will Arnett and certainly Amy Poehler got most of the comic “scraps” as the evil brother-and-sister skating duo, though your assessmnet of Heder is certainly spot-on…
cftoto 08.04.08 at 12:29 am
Good point about Arnett and Poehler — they’re terrific supporting players of late … and they’re married and preggers to boot.