IN THE movies, geeks have rarely been captured so wholly or to greater comic effect than Jon Heder's consummate, hilarious Napoleon Dynamite.

A sort of American mid-west Kevin the Teenager, but a more monotone and less hip version, Napoleon is daily slammed into lockers and pushed to the limits by the trials of school and his strange family life.

His grandma's exertions in a dune buggy leave him stranded with his 32-year-old brother Kip, whose only significant activity is chatting on the internet for four hours daily to his cyber-partner.

And then there's deluded Uncle Rico, who moves in to look after the duo, but merely ends up causing them even more problems with his desire to return to the halcyon days of 1982 in a time machine, and his assorted money-making schemes.

But light dawns when he makes a friend in Pedro, and attempts to help him run for class president.

Following in the wake of high school movies with bite, such as Alexander Payne's Election and Wes Anderson's Rushmore, Napoleon Dynamite provides yet another invigorating perspective on the trials of survival, helped, as in the aforementioned films, by a towering central performance.

Heder perfects a somnolent detachment for Napoleon, who constantly makes an hilarious exasperated exhalation noise and seems to never really open his eyes.

Despite the fact that, for the majority of the time we are laughing at him, audiences will find it hard not to wish him all the best and won't be able to prevent their fretting at his ultimate fate.

Aided by a cast of unknowns in pitch-perfect performances, including former child star Tina Majorino (When A Man Loves A Woman) making her first notable appearance in a more adult role as Napoleon's possible "love interest", there's not a single cast member who lets the side down.

Complete with 1980s comedy costuming and a triumphant concluding dance number to Jamiroquai's Canned Heat, Napoleon Dynamite is a quirky slice of indie fun - refreshing and entertaining.