Sweet! Preston (Idaho) now reigns as geek-chic capital (Napoleon Dynamite Alert)

PRESTON, Idaho — Talk to a Preston resident for any length of time and you're likely to hear the town's new mantra:

"There's a little bit of Napoleon in all of us," says lifelong resident Thedora Petterborg. "Who hasn't felt like that once in a while?"

It's been several months since Napoleon Dynamite became America's favorite nerd. The movie, written and directed by freshman filmmaker Jared Hess and based in Preston, was a surprise success, grossing $44.5 million in the United States and gaining near cult status with December's release on DVD.

And now the tiny city of Preston has a following all its own. People from as far away as Germany have come to town, buying up thousands of dollars' worth of souvenir shirts, tetherballs and the ever-popular boondoggle key chain.

"I think it's totally remarkable," said Petterborg, who played the part of school secretary in the movie. "The llama, Tina, lives right across the street from us. People come by and take pictures — they go out of their way to see Napoleon's town."

The movie's protagonist, Napoleon Dynamite (played by John Heder), is a nerdy teenager suffering the typical struggles of high school — trying to find a date, dealing with annoying relatives and holding it all together despite mocking from the popular crowd. He joins forces with friends Pedro Sanchez (Efren Ramirez) and Deb (Tina Majorino) in a bid to elect Pedro to the coveted student body presidency. It all culminates in a dance-off, Napoleon-style. The movie is squeaky clean, with no swearing, no potty humor, no violence. In many ways it mirrors the town, where cheerful and mostly LDS residents introduce themselves to strangers and are quick to offer a helping hand.

Not everyone in town was thrilled to be living in the new capital of geek chic. Some residents worry the movie made them look nerdy.

Krismas Adams, Jared Hess' mother, said she gets phone galls askin for Napoleon. "I've had a few really rewarding conversations," she said.

"There's probably two kinds of people. You either love it and think it's the greatest thing that happened, or you hate it and think it makes fun of us," Petterborg said. "Those of us love it because we love Jared." Much of the movie is based on incidents from Hess' life in Preston, where he was often seen trolling the neighborhood with a camcorder and making amateur movies. No wonder, then, that most residents thought Napoleon Dynamite was simply another of Jared's projects. "Most of us didn't think anything of it at first, just another no-name movie for Jared Hess," said Stephen Baldwin, store manager for the Deseret Industries thrift shop, where much of the movie's wardrobes were bought and some scenes were filmed. "But then it came out. And now college students are coming into the store to take pictures or videos, looking to purchase memorabilia." Still, ask any local kid, and chances are they'll tell you they can't wait to leave Preston, a town of just 4,791 people about 100 miles north of Salt Lake City, near the Utah-Idaho border. "High schoolers will go away for a minute, but they always come back," said Pennie Christensen, executive director of Preston's Chamber of Commerce. "We're probably a bit behind the times as far as fashion, but there are beautiful homes, and it's a small, tight community. People are service-oriented, considerate." Local real estate agents have reported an increase in calls from out-of-towners whose interest was piqued by scenery in the film, Christensen said. A few fans have stopped in town for a visit and decided to stay. Even more are calling just to say hello. "One lady called from Tennessee, saying, 'I want to thank Preston. You cleaned up the language in our town,' " Christensen said. "Before, the kids there were saying things like the F-word or G-D. Now they say 'flip' and 'sweet.' "

Christensen hopes the town can keep the attention coming. She's planning a Napoleon Dynamite Fest in June, complete with tetherball tournaments, a disco dance-off and a look-alike contest. Visitors can easily spot landmarks from the movie. The Cuttin Curral and King's grocery store grace the main drag. Pop 'N Pins is just a few blocks away, and interested fans can still buy bowling pins used in the movie. Even Napoleon's favorite animal, the lion and tiger crossbreed known as a liger, has local roots: There was a liger farm not far from Preston until a few years ago, when several of the animals escaped and the farm was shut down. Residents are tapping their inner loser to cash in on the city's celebrity. The Chamber of Commerce — whose Web-site hits spiked from a previous all-time high of 7,000 to 284,000 hits after the DVD release — sells tour maps pointing out filming locations, such as Napoleon's house, along with other souvenirs. A sign at the car dealership West Motors boasts that customers can buy a car from Pedro's dad. Even the Happy Hands sign language club in the movie is based on the school's Good Hands club. Hess himself was a member while attending school at Preston High. Though the number of men on the team has tripled since the movie — to three — they continue to be targets for school bullies.

Before the flick 17-year-old Dakotah Gordon was the only male to brave the club. "I was the Napoleon Dynamite of the club," Gordon said. "But look at the guy-to-girl ratio — a lot of guys want to be in the club; they're just scared to join." The group is getting performance requests from around the nation, and a few nearby schools have gotten into a bidding war over who will score the club for an assembly first. But those who want to see the Good Hands club in action need only stop by Preston High School every day after class. The group of roughly 30 students gathers to practice sign language and dance to songs by Shania Twain, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. In one movie scene, Hess used his mother's phone number in the background. Now his mom, Krismas Adams, said she gets calls all the time. "People call and say, 'Is Napoleon there?' I always tell them that Napoleon doesn't live here, it's Pedro's house. A lot of times they laugh or hang up. But I've had a few really rewarding conversations," Adams said. "One kid from Michigan called, and we talked about Jared and the importance of sticking with his dreams." Petterborg thinks she knows why so many people have embraced the quirky movie and her little town. "Everyone is the same, deep down, whether they're cheerleaders or druggies. And everyone wants to believe that their wildest dreams can come true," she said. Especially if they're in Preston.

"I'm making some sweet moolah with Uncle Rico."

Okay, you either love the movie or think it's the most unforgivable waste of $8 and an hour and a half ever.

I love it. But I'm completely at a loss to explain why it's so funny to me. There's some slapstick in it (Napoleon scaling a chain link fence and falling gracelessly on the other side is a fine Buster Keaton moment) but not much. No outrageous puns. No involved set-ups with punch lines. It's just a loosey goosey train of non sequiturs and bizarro self-promotions. Some of the stuff isn't funny until AFTER you've left the theater and are thinking about it days later.

Jared Hess may have a unique genius for deadpan humor. I'm looking forward to his next movie which is reputedly about masked Mexican wrestlers in the 1950s.

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