This week on Total Movie Recall, we try to decide whether this is a charming, unique film about staying true to yourself, or a nightmarish descent into the insanity that comes with living in a barren, desolate landscape like rural Idaho, where the Uncle Ricos of the world keep subterranean dungeons for unsuspecting Debs. This might say more about where our heads are at right now than about this beloved comedy.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

d. Jared Hess

w. Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess

Starring:
Jon Heder
Efren Ramirez
Jon Gries
Aaron Ruell
Diedrich Bader
Tina Majorino
Sandy Martin

In small-town Preston, Idaho, awkward teen Napoleon Dynamite has trouble fitting in. After his grandmother is injured in an accident, his life is made even worse when his strangely nostalgic uncle, Rico, shows up to keep an eye on him. With no safe haven at home or at school, Napoleon befriends the new kid, Pedro, a morose Hispanic boy who speaks little English. Together the two launch a campaign to run for class president.

Things discussed in the show:

Russian movie posters

Chinatown (Roman Polanski, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston)

Dumbo (Disney, Samuel Armstrong, Sterling Holloway, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing)

Kung Fu Cult Master

Real Steel (Shawn Levy, Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo)

Robot Jox

Rocky (John G. Avildsen, Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young)

Lionheart (Sheldon Lettich, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard)

Switchback (Jeb Stuart, Danny Glover, Dennis Quaid, Claudia Stedelin, Jared Leto)

Killing Eve season 3 (Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw)

Parasite (Bong Joon Ho, Kang-ho Song, Lee Sun-kyun, Yeo-jeong Cho)

Snowpiercer (Bong Joon Ho, Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris)

Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Juno (Jason Reitman, Diablo Cody, Elliot Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner)

Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear)

Jack White

Jamiroquai

Wes Anderson

Trapper Keepers

Rushmore (Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams)

Gummo (Harmony Korine, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Lara Tosh)

Julian Donkey-Boy (Harmony Korine, Ewen Bremner, Brian Fisk, Chloë Sevigny)

No Country for Old Men (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin)

Cormac McCarthy – Blood Meridian

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman)

Peluca - Short film

Blades of Glory (Josh Gordon, Will Speck, Jeff Cox, Craig Cox, Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Amy Poehler)

Dungeons & Dragons

Heathers

House Party

Bone Tomahawk (Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins, S. Craig Zahler)

BTK Killer

Atlanta local spots: Manuel's Tavern, 529 Bar

Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles)

Elvis Costello

Who's Line is it Anyway?

The Drew Carey Show (Drew Carey, Bruce Helford, Diedrich Bader, Kathy Kinney)

High school dances as ritual, an anthropological study

Community (Dan Harmon, Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jim Rash, Chevy Chase, Troy Barnes)

Ligers - centaurs and Dungeons and Dragons little brown books

X-Files - Jersey Devil episode (Joe Napolitano, Chris Carter, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi)

Bat Boy from Weekly World News

Wesley Snipes

The Jackalope and Dave Coulier

Brian Setzer Orchestra and The Stray Cats

Next week: From Dusk Till Dawn