Tapawingo

Writer Brad DeMarea and writer-director Dylan K. Narang’s Tapawingo functions as an amusing concoction of Napoleon Dynamite and Rushmore, with a side of Drillbit Taylor. It is a whimsical comedy tinged with nostalgia that tells the curiously bizarre and heartwarming tale of what star Jon Heder’s Napoleon could have done next, whilst infused with its own brand of fringe, absurdist humor that seems to make you laugh by accident. But this isn’t Napoleon, as much as Heder’s performance is carrying many of the same traits as his iconic character, such as tone and delivery.

Nate Skoog (Heder) is a depressive mail-room worker who lives with his mother, Ramona (Amanda Bearse), and her manipulative boyfriend, Tom (John Ratzenberger). When not at home or at work, he hangs out with his best bud, Will Luna (Jay Pichardo), and the duo fantasizes about becoming mercenaries for hire to make enough money to leave town. As his mundane existence crawls along at a snail’s pace, Nate soon finds himself given extra work by his boss, which mainly consists of chauffeuring his son Oswalt (Sawyer Williams) from school to his home. Initially burdened by the odd job, Nate soon becomes engaged when his and Oswalt’s paths intersect with Gretchen (Kim Matula), a feisty blonde who kicks a*s and gives no fucks whilst working a video game arcade for, in her words, a real dick-cheese.

The plot thickens when Nate and Will encounter Oswalt being assaulted by two men. Able to drive his attackers away, Nate learns that Oswalt fleeced finances from the brother of the man who struck him, a despicable hustler named Nelson Tarwater (Chad Dukes). Once Nate is fingered as the man responsible for standing between them and the stolen funds, Nelson comes after Skoog with a vicious attack dog. Nate and Oswalt escape, but not before Nelson calls down the thunder by getting in touch with his silently menacing older brother, Stoney (Billy Zane).

“…Nate is fingered as the man responsible for standing between them and the stolen funds…”

Tapawingo mashes the best tropes of Wes Anderson and Jared Hess. DeMarea and Narang work this into a whimsical story filled with offbeat humor that is made even more hilarious and charming because of the setup and delivery. The comedy lands because the tone is maintained across the board, esepcially from the cast.

Heder is solid as ever, and is still funny. He’s backed by a celebrity-filled supporting cast. A dialogue-less Zane is more amusing than it sounds. A crazy turn from Gina Gershon as Skoog’s workplace toxic lover sees the film pop off with the satisfying smoke plume of an illegal firework. Every actor delivers something that could easily be comedy from 20 years ago if the image weren’t so sharp.

Tapawingo presents itself as the kind of Good Will Hunting-esque spiritual follow-up to Napoleon Dynamite. But the filmmakers take the flavors and the star that made a cult classic, and repackage it into something unique and funny. It has everything you loved about what has come before, with fun and familiar faces, and makes the life and times of Nate Skoog infectious and hilariously enchanting.