Napoleon Dynamite is not like anyone else. He's a nerd, but he's not the kind of lovable nerds you usually see in movies. He's not lovable at all. He's possibly the most off-putting and annoying person I've ever seen in a film. To make him the hero of a movie that seeks to subvert the usual lovable-nerd scenario is either brilliant or a complete failure. Since I laughed, but not nonstop, I don't know what that makes this film. My friends and I were nerds in high school, but we probably wouldn't have let Napoleon Dynamite sit at our table.

Jon Heder plays the title role half-asleep, or at least he looks that way. He rarely opens his eyes; he staggers around in moon boots and ill-fitting and ill-matched clothing, slackjawed and slurring his words. Unlike most movie nerds, he has no class consciousness: he doesn't really seem aware that he's a pariah, except for when jocks slam him into a locker or put him in a headlock. It doesn't seem to bother him, though. He has no real desire to move up the food chain at his Idaho high school. He doesn't seem to have any real desires at all.

The film, too, seems to lack most basic desires. Just as there's no character arc for Napoleon, so there's not really a story arc for the movie. The bare bones of the plot are thus: Napoleon is upset when his loser uncle Rico (Jon Gries, with a bad wig), a former high school football star who is stuck perpetually in 1982, moves in after Napoleon's grandma is injured in an ATV accident. Napoleon's brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), a loser on the same scale as Napoleon, courts internet romance and helps Rico with his get-rich-quick schemes involving door-to-door sales. Napoleon's new friend Pedro (Efren Ramirez), who is even more somnolent than Napoleon, decides to run for class president. And Deb (Tina Majorino), a shy girl who does Glamour Shots and sells lanyard contraptions, is interested in Napoleon, who is unaware of the existence of anyone else.

Instead of a plot, we follow Napoleon around as he fails to interact with the world around him. The film is a series of short skits: Napoleon and Pedro testing milk at a Future Farmers of America meeting. Kip and Rico proving how strong their tupperware is. Napoleon and Kip attending a session at the dojo of Rex (Diedrich Bader, the neighbor from Office Space). The Happy Hands Sign Language Club recital. Napoleon attempting to get the pet llama to eat. Uncle Rico showing off his passing skills. Napoleon enlisting the help of Pedro's cousins to act as security guards for nerds. Etc.

The great thing about the film is that it refuses to cave in and make Napoleon a hero. We expect him to save the day, to win the praise of his classmates, to get the girl—he sort of does, but in his own dysfunctional way. The film's payoff is possibly the funniest dance number since Saturday Night Fever. Throughout the film, writer/director Jared Hess refuses to comment on his characters. His style makes the film eerily resemble a Disney documentary about some strange and rare animal species. I don't know what naturalists would make of Napoleon Dynamite.

I learn now that there's a five-minute scene after the closing credits. Sigh. The first time in ages that I haven't waited until the end of the credits. What was I thinking? I'm sure it was hilarious.