Nacho Libre Review [2]
Posted by Chris McCarver on 06.19.2006
A few chair shots to the cabeza might've made me enjoy this movie more...
Nacho Libre
Starring Jack Black, Hector Jiminez, Ana de la Reguera, and Cesar Gonzalez
Directed by Jared Hess
Distributed by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies
Rated PG for for some rough action, and crude humor including dialogue
Release Date: June 16, 2006
Runtime: 1 hr., 40 min.
Review by CHRIS McCARVER
Strange bedfellows. When you've spent a large chunk of your life in a movie theater, you've often seen what can happen when a studio opts to pull together seemingly incompatible elements just to see what happens. Sometimes we get a result akin to the melding of chocolate and peanut butter, but more often than not we're left a ticket price shy and with two hours wasted. The latter was sadly the case in the new offering from Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess, the luchador comedy Nacho Libre.
Yes, I said "luchador comedy." Come in and share my pain, won't you?
Comedic funnyman Jack Black stars in this squared-circle farce as a friar and orphanage cook named Ignacio. Ever since he was a young boy, Ignacio dreamed of becoming a masked wrestler under the nom de plume "Nacho." However, growing up in an orphanage where wrestling is considered sinful put a damper on such dreams, forcing Ignacio to settle for taking the thankless task of cooking for his orphanage. Still, he still secretly dreams of stepping into the ring and proving his mettle while serving the daily gruel, the only thing they can make since the orphanage has little money for decent groceries.
On his way to pick up his regular supply of tortilla chips, Ignacio is mugged by a hungry street beggar (Hector Jiminez). While he loses the fight and the chips, the mugging reignites Ignacio's passion to wrestle. Upon seeing a flyer foe an amateur wrestling contest, Ignacio tracks down the beggar and convinces him to join forces as a tag team. Though he and the beggar, the latter of whom takes the name "Esqueleto," are soundly defeated, the two become a fan favorite and the promoter invites them to stay on as "jobbers" (wrestlers who are paid to lose to more popular performers).
Ignacio immediately puts his earnings towards good food for the orphans, which earns their admiration as well as that of their newly arrived schoolmarm, Sister Encarnacion (Ana de la Reguera), for whom Ignacio is holding something of a torch. Unfortunately, Ignacio is forced to keep his wrestling career a secret from everyone, due to it being counter to his faith and Encarnacion despising the sport. Despite having to keep his luchador life under wraps, Ignacio becomes weary of being "paid to lose" and sets his sights on facing and beating an egotistical, formidable champion (former WCW luchador Cesar "Silver King" Gonzalez).
When I spoke of strange bedfellows either, who would have conceived of combining a cult-favorite director such as Jared Hess, a comedic lead with the drawing power of Jack Black, and a story about a priest who moonlights as a pro wrestler? Obviously someone thought that this would be a match made in heaven; sadly, this movie misses the mark just a bit.
My hopes for the film upon hearing of Hess' direction is that the film would steer at least manageably clear of toilet humor. Well, I was half-right. Nacho Libre has something of a 60-40 balance of bodily-function gags to genuinely smart humor. This was the first film I'd seen with Jack Black as a headliner, and while I was a bit put off by the sheer amount of time devoted to his flatulence and apparent addiction to slapstick injury, I was impressed by his actual successful attempts at genuine comedy. Black's ring skills were also something to admire, since he had reportedly trained under actual luchadores for this role.
The story suffers a bit from a touch of the formulaic, despite the film's very original concept. The film's plot elements move from beat to beat in the same manner as many of these sorts of films wherein the protagonist takes on some form of athletic or sporting competition to save the precious landmark. It's a very kid-friendly film (as long you parents out there don't mind a fair amount of gross-out humor), but if your expectations for this film are anything more than a casual theatrical romp, disappointment will run hot on the heels.
Little can be really said about the film's supporting cast, as, with the marginal exception of Hector Jiminez, they acted as so much window dressing. Jiminez's Esqueleto was a capable sidekick for Black's Nacho, but at times he seemed more of a target for getting beaten to a pulp than Black himself. Ana de la Reguera's Sister Encarnacion was probably the biggest example of wasted space in this film; being portrayed as a potential love interest when one character's playing a priest and the other a nun veers somewhere in areas some would do well to enter cautiously. I should, however, point out that a number of professional luchadores make appearances in this film, so 411 readers who follow Mexican wrestling might get some enjoyment out of trying to find their favorite performers in the wrestling segments.
The 411: Nacho Libre holds onto some points for a definite degree of originality, but loses a fair number for holding too close to formula and sacrificing intelligent comedy for cheap gross-out gags. Fans of Jared Hess' work on Napoleon Dynamite or Jack Black aficionados may find something to enjoy here, but ultimately this film's a half-hearted bathroom comedy whose assets are sorely overshadowed by its liabilities. If you have little better to do, this film might be considered worth a look, but, otherwise, Nacho Libre goes down for a hard three-count.
