Nerds

OK, so I sort of forgot about this thing. Then I remembered and googled it, too lazy to actually, you know, type in the web address. And I found a Bronte blog, linking to the previous post. I should know better, but it never fails to creep me out that this stuff is all...public. Duh.

Anyway, a couple weeks back a friend of mine introduced me to the greatness of "Flight of the Conchords," leading to pathological obsession for both me and my sister. Who wouldn't love funny Kiwis with guitars? Said obsession led us to "Eagle Vs. Shark," a New Zealand comedy that came out last year and features Jemaine Clement. Jemaine is officially my boy, so it jumped to the top of my Netflix queue.

Comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite are inevitable, and apt. The main characters are full-on geeks, though this time their social ineptness has gone on for years after graduation. For the record, I hated Napoleon Dynamite. The whole movie struck me as mean-spirited, the characters unrecognizable, the portrayal of 'flyover country' vapid. (Being from Utah, the writers must have known this, but seem to have exaggerated the 'backwardness' of the non-Coast setting to appeal to the smug self-righteousness of Coasties.) The theme, of artistic expression being the great communicator when all else might fail, is lost to a bunch of idiotic one-liners about a llama.

Eagle Vs. Shark took the geek concept and gave it some heart. Jemaine's character constantly reminded me of some of the people I went to school with - the desperation for acceptance, the failure to recognize real friends, the explosive anger and fixation on their oppressors. I could empathize with these characters. The emotions felt real, the awkward moments all the more excruciating. Not really laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it made me smile.

So sure, it was somewhat derivative, but it managed to one-up what it was stealing from. And it had a happy ending. Plus, another excuse to watch Jemaine for an extra hour and a half. What more could a girl want?