I Rewatched Napoleon Dynamite With My Teen Daughter, And Was Shocked By How Well The Jokes Hold Up With Gen Z

I recently rewatched Napoleon Dynamite for the first time in years and was reminded that comedy is one of the trickiest genres to age gracefully. What has audiences rolling in the aisles one decade often feels dated or problematic in the next. Raunchy 1980s and 1990s comedies built on gross-out gags rarely survive the shift in generational humor. But Napoleon Dynamite, more than two decades since its 2004 debut, proves an exception. Watching it with my fourteen-year-old daughter, I was shocked by how well the movie’s best jokes still hold up.

I sat down to watch Napoleon Dynamite with my Gen Z daughter, expecting little more than a few polite chuckles. After all, the film sits at a modest 72% on Rotten Tomatoes. Instead, I was floored when she burst into genuine laughter again and again. It's surreal, awkward, and oddly wholesome humor—anchored by unforgettable offbeat characters—has aged like fine wine. By the time the credits rolled, she was ready to start it over, proof that Gen Z might actually appreciate Napoleon Dynamite even more than we did back in the day. Here are the jokes that landed hardest and why they still hold up.

I Caught You A Delicious Bass.

One of the strangest yet sweetest lines in the film comes at the films ending when Napoleon meets up with his crush, Deb, played by cast member and child star Tina Majorino, at the tetherball pole, and instead of holding a boombox over his head or handing her flowers or a mixtape, he proudly offers, “I caught you a delicious bass.”

What makes the moment enduring is its sheer oddity—there’s no irony, no wink at the camera, just earnest awkwardness. Teenagers today, growing up in a world hyper-aware of performative social gestures, seem to find comfort in this kind of quirky sincerity. It’s weird, it’s unexpected, and it feels completely authentic to the character. My daughter burst out laughing, not because the line was mean-spirited or edgy, but because it was so perfectly, hilariously strange.

Tina, You Fat Lard, Come Get Some Dinner!

Perhaps the most quotable line of the film, Napoleon’s frustrated call to feed the family’s llama, Tina, has been echoing through dorm rooms and group chats for years. What’s remarkable is how it still lands with Gen Z.

There’s something universal about a sibling stuck doing chores and yelling at an uncooperative pet. The line has the perfect blend of absurdity and relatability. And while some comedies and best movies of the 2000s relied heavily on body-shaming humor, this one avoids cruelty. Napoleon isn’t insulting a person—it’s a stubborn llama—and that distinction makes all the difference.

My daughter immediately repeated the line, adding it to our growing list of family quotes and dinner table lexicon. If a movie can organically enter the in-jokes of a household more than 20 years after its release, that’s staying power. It's worth noting that the line the movie's star, Jon Heder, says he hears quoted back to him most often is understandable, and I see why.

I See You’re Drinking 1%. Is That Because You Think You’re Fat?

This moment, in which Napoleon confronts Deb with an unsolicited observation about her choice of milk, is amongst the list of movies and TV masterclasses in cringe comedy. Delivered with deadpan seriousness, it highlights just how socially tone-deaf Napoleon can be, while also poking fun at adolescent insecurities.

The reason it still works today is that the humor isn’t punching down. Napoleon isn’t trying to be cruel—he’s trying (and failing) to be insightful. That awkward gap between intent and delivery is something every teen recognizes, whether in 2004 or 2025.

Watching my daughter laugh at this scene felt like a recognition of shared experience: the bizarre way teenagers sometimes stumble through conversations, saying the exact wrong thing with total sincerity. The comedy holds up because it isn’t mocking Deb, but exposing Napoleon’s lack of self-awareness.

Girls Only Want Boyfriends Who Have Great Skills.

From nunchuck skills to bow hunting skills to computer hacking skills, Napoleon’s understanding of romance is hilariously off-base. His conviction that mastering a random set of “skills” will win him love is both ridiculous and surprisingly poignant.

This line still resonates because it satirizes a timeless teenage belief: that romance can be “hacked” or earned through some formula. For Gen Z, surrounded by online tutorials, self-improvement influencers, and algorithm-driven dating advice, the joke is even sharper.

My daughter cracked up at Napoleon’s earnest delivery, then admitted that she’s heard similar logic from classmates who think a quirky hobby automatically makes them dateable. In a world obsessed with curating identities for social media, the line feels even more relevant than it did twenty years ago.

Napoleon’s Drawing For Trisha

Few scenes capture the uncomfortable earnestness of Napoleon Dynamite quite like when he presents Trisha with his “artistic” portrait. With complete seriousness, he mails her the drawing, and when she calls him, he proudly announces:

What makes the joke timeless is the collision of confidence and awkwardness. The drawing is, to put it kindly, unflattering, but Napoleon treats it as a grand romantic gesture. The line is funny not because we’re laughing at Trisha, but because we recognize the misplaced pride of a teenager trying desperately to impress someone with whatever “talent,” or “skill,” they can muster.

This was a painfully relatable moment for my kid. For Gen Z, who are constantly sharing art, TikToks, or memes in hopes of gaining approval, the idea of Napoleon spending hours on something questionable and then presenting it with utter sincerity hits especially hard. It’s awkward, it’s cringey, and it’s absolutely hilarious.

Vote For Pedro

Few lines from early 2000s cinema have had the cultural afterlife of “Vote for Pedro.” The slogan, emblazoned on T-shirts everywhere, was more than just a campaign pitch for Pedro’s school presidency—it became shorthand for celebrating outsiders and underdogs.

What’s remarkable is how well the catchphrase still resonates with teens today. My daughter had seen the phrase on thrifted shirts long before she watched the movie, but when the actual scene arrived, she laughed harder than I expected. The joke works on multiple levels: the absurd seriousness of a high school campaign, the deadpan delivery, and the way Napoleon and Pedro take themselves so seriously while the stakes are hilariously low.

For Gen Z, who live in an era of meme-driven political campaigns and viral slogans, “Vote for Pedro” doesn’t feel outdated, but instead feels prophetic.

Gosh!

Sometimes the simplest lines are the most enduring. Napoleon’s exasperated “Gosh!” is practically a one-word thesis for the entire film. It captures his frustration with the world’s inability to meet his expectations while also highlighting his peculiar mannerisms.

My daughter laughed every single time he said it, which was often. Part of its charm is its repeatability—like “fetch” from Mean Girls or “as if!” from Clueless, it’s a line you can drop into daily conversation without context. And unlike some of its contemporaries, it doesn’t rely on dated slang or offensive stereotypes.

It’s pure, character-driven humor, the kind that never goes out of style.

Rewatching Napoleon Dynamite with my teen daughter reminded me that the film’s humor is both timeless and generationally transferable. It’s not about shock value, raunch, or pop-culture references that age poorly. It’s about strange, earnest characters who take themselves seriously in a world that doesn’t quite make sense. That’s why the jokes hold up: they’re funny because they’re human. There’s a reason the movie ranks amongst the best of the high school classics.

Sharing the movie with my daughter—who’s just starting high school—was a full-circle moment, a reminder that awkwardness and sincerity are universal. When the credits rolled, she looked at me and said, “We have to watch that again.”

Twenty-one years after its initial release, Napoleon Dynamite isn’t just surviving, but thriving, proof that offbeat, quirky comedy may be the most enduring kind of all. And if you want to relive the glory days (or introduce them to a new generation), you can stream the endearing comedy with an HBO Max subscription.