"Eagle vs Shark" fits into a small niche of films generally unloved by the larger public. Would that be "inter-species to-the-death fights"? No, it would be "hopeless nerds muddle through" movies.

"Napoleon Dynamite" would be more or less the ne plus ultra of such a canon. "Eagle" isn't as funny or sharp as "Napoleon," but it has its own weird set of pleasures. Those tired unto death of 'splosions and big gooey computer-generated monsters might well put some time into this one and remember that there are actual human beings out there in reality.

The reality in question is New Zealand. Our two love birds are Jarrod (Jemaine Clement) and Lily (Loren Horsley), 20-somethings absorbed in mall culture in suburban Auckland. She works at a fast-food joint, hustling burgers; he's the guru and head stud of a computer store.

The film begins with her, and Lily -- wan, scrawny, big-eyed and desperate -- is one of those poor people radiating gentleness, good spirit, generosity and virtue that, of course, is despised by the world at large.

Meanwhile, Jarrod rules his own little domain, a big fish in a very small pond, or rather, a small fish in an even smaller pond. Seeing her forlorn, he asks her to a party at his house, the gimmick of which is that "You have to dress like your favorite animal." Hmm, how clueless, pathetic, self-deluding and yet adorable is that?

She shows up as a shark -- fearsome, carnivorous, merciless -- which she is not. He is the mighty eagle -- noble, graceful, free -- all of which he is not.

When they go head-to-head on a video game and she almost beats him, it's love at first zap.

"Eagle vs Shark" isn't slick by any means and in certain ways seems almost childish. Lumpy Jarrod is particularly hard to stomach as many will consider him unfit for the desperately decent Lily. And the movie isn't funny in any big way so much as recognizable in its patterns of dysfunction, delusion and futility. But you believe in it, because you believe in the small but decent lives of its characters, a rare experience for a hot weekend in June.

-- Stephen Hunter (June 22, 2007)

Contains profanity, sexual content and brief animated violence.