Friday, June 16, 2006

YOU WANT TO TALK SOME JIVE? In his decidedly mixed review of Nacho Libre, Jeffrey Wells makes a comparison worthy of a bit of teasing out--he says Libre is Jared Hess's The Life Aquatic, while Napoleon Dynamite was his Rushmore/Royal Tenenbaums. I adore Wes Anderson's first three films, and sort of get the comparison. Both Hess and Anderson have a tendency toward quasi-picaresque films with strange characters, usually with one quasi-normal person caught in the middle--Deb, Miss Cross, Henry Sherman. The big difference, in my view? Hess treats the strange characters with a detached contempt, while Anderson clearly loves his characters.

Everyone in Napoleon Dynamite is idiotic, unsympathetic, and one-dimensional, while the strange characters in Anderson's films are clearly beloved--they're also generally highly intelligent, deeply sympathetic, and multi-dimensional. Sure, Anderson may have Owen Wilson running around in a funny hat and fringed jacket, but you're not laughing at him because "it's Owen Wilson running around in a funny hat and fringed jacket," you're laughing because you recognize something there. In contrast, Hess seems to think Jack Black + stretchy pants = comedy gold without more, in a variation of Jon Heder + strange clothes = comedy gold. Give me Anderson any time, and I think (along with Fastest and Furiousest, and Garfield II) Nacho goes on the dumper pile for this weekend.

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