I really like Napolean Dynamite.
I'm going to expose my snobbery a bit here, but I consider American films in general to be pretty overrated and sub-par. Virtually no grasp of subtlety, unnatural dialog that comes off more as a series of proclamations and sound bites ("You can't handle the truth!"), formulaic plotting, a constant need to spell out every single little detail, non-existent emotional depth... the last 10 years or so have been particularly bad, especially now that everyone's fixated on trying to remake and whitewash foreign films.
We've had our share of exceptional films over the years, and there's still the rare standout, but for the most part, it's been a pretty steady deluge of disingenuous crap.
I honestly think these criticisms are true for most foreign films as well. I went through a pretty pretentious film snob period, but essentially found that everything is formulaic. Most foreign films don't seem formulaic because we have not seen them enough. I remember Japanese cinema being a breath of fresh air. But my god, Japanese cinema is the most formulaic ever. German films all have the same formula/rhythm as does Russian cinema, French cinema, English cinema, etc.
It is the rare film that breaks the mode. The country of origin seems to matter little. What matters is digging deep for great movies.
I used to think that soundbites were annoying. But honestly, most of these are quotable for a reason. "I could of been a contender" is remembered from On the Waterfront because the scene and the line are masterfully crafted. While not always true, I found this to be the case a lot more times than the cynic in me would have liked.
I do tend to agree on not remaking foreign films. I would like to see more focus on marketing the original here, but understand that the business side of it will be more profitable for both parties (foreign and domestic) if they localized the whole thing.
