If the makers of Napoleon Dynamite had been from New Zealand, this might be the ten-years-later sequel, although writer-director-costar Taika Waititi says he wrote the script a few years ago. The story is told from the view of a shy, awkward woman (Loren Horsley) who, behind her fast-food-chain visor, admires the Napoleonic Jarrod, based on, among other things, their matching moles (ick). Played by Jemaine Clement (costar of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords), Jarrod is more self-confident than she, but more odd and childish. Well-matched video-game skills help this pair forge a relationship.
Waititi places these weird yet ordinary characters in ordinary, even drab, settings. He makes good use of color, but the movie never feels slick. Whereas Napoleon Dynamite somewhat abandons its quirkiness for a fairly typical Hollywood ending, Eagle vs. Shark keeps it real, and is funnier in any case.
In this movie, the characters won’t triumph by being elected school president, or even winning a rematch against a former school tormentor, as Jarrod attempts to hilarious and heartbreaking effect. This is basically a fun, upbeat movie, but the possibility of victory it sets up for the characters is on a more personal level, which is the best most of us can hope for.
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