Super Nacho

This movie is based on a real priest, Rev. Sergio Gutierrez Benitez. who has been in over 4,000 matches over the past 23 years. His ring name is Fray Tormenta ("Friar Storm" in Spanish)and he does wrestle under the mask in Mexico to support an orphanage. The story was on the CBS evening news and a couple of the news magazine shows several years ago. Every now and then you either see, or read something about him.

I watch movies to be entertained. If I wanted "deep thought" I'd go to a library. This is Jack Black being Jack Black. The dialog is crude, humor slapstick, and storyline so, so. But it's funny.

I wouldn't buy it for my personal collection, but it's good for an evening of rental movies at home.

Much to my surprise, as I begrudgingly went to the movies with my 12 yr old son, I LOVED this film. I expected nothing, yet in return, I received a wonderful 1 hour and 40 minute respite from the real world, filled with slapstick humor and total silliness. Slapstick humor always walks a tightrope between bad taste and belly laughs. The Three Stooges are mind-numbingly inane: most laugh intensely and some never get the joke. Laurel and Hardy isn't for everyone either. Nacho Libre is not filled with Woody Allen irony, it doesn't have Christopher Guest's drollness, and it's not James Brook slick. It's not sophisticated humor! How can any film featuring Jack Black as a Mexican friar/fryer/wrestler/wannabe wooer ... all for the "good of the orphans" be taken seriously? It's simply for the 12 year old boy in all of us who laughs when Moe hits Curly and laughs when fat guys, even with over the top Mexican accents, are paired with skinny guys ... in a wrestling ring ... with stretchy pants.

I originally wrote this as a reply to a poster who asked if the mean IQ of people who liked this was 93, but the post was subsequently deleted. But to him I say, "By the way, I'm a physician and my IQ is a tad over 93. But even if I had no job at all and even if my IQ was 93 ... who cares ... I laughed, with my son, eating popcorn, in the dark. And that's the joy of sharing a movie like this." No es?

Just, watch the movie. It may seem like a dumb 2006 comedy movie with Jack Black, and that's exactly what it is. It's completely ridiculous and nonsensical, but if you have the right mind set (that being that this is a dumb movie with dumb jokes) you'll most likely enjoy yourself. It doesn't try to be something that it's not, it knows it's a stupid comedy with completely ridiculous jokes and it just is what it is. It's nothing great, really nothing special, no hidden meaning or religious messages it just kind of exist to exist. Just appreciate it for what it is. It has some outrageous jokes and some mediocre acting, but actually has a nice enjoyable plot with the main actors being as ridiculous as possible and honest a great soundtrack. Just trust me when I say to give it a watch, it's on Netflix and is short so you're really not wasting yo much of your time if you don't like it. A lot of great memorable moments and very nostalgic for me, and for me and my family it's a cult-classic.

It's good to know that farce is alive and well in the world. Since the mid 90's it feels like film makers have lost their grip on truly great weird comedy. Movies that speak to the few and turn off the rest. It seems that even as the tools to unlock our imaginations get flashier and flashier, and special effect budgets grow and grown, American film grow static and stale. Then when it seems like all hope is lost, a film like NACHO LIBRE comes along.

Somewhere in Mexico, a young priest named Nacho (Jack Black) longs to be recognized. He's tired of serving the same bland food to the young boys in his charge. He's tired of being disrespected by the other priests. He longs to be a luchadore (a Mexican wrestler), and to gain the affections of the stunning Sister Encarnación (Ana del la Regura). Then when all hope is lost he teams up with a new friend named Esquelta, and takes the Mexican wrestling world by storm. Will the orphan boys get better food? Will Nacho win the heart of Sister Encarnación? Will he lose everything he has, on a quest to become a great warrior? Giving this movie its due will provide those answers and more. The movie not perfect. It's a little overlong and some of the jokes fall flat on their face. But there is an earnestness and a sweet gentility in the film that will win you over. You cannot enter this movie with the wrong attitude and if you don't like weird movie its not for you. But if you let it entertain you and if you give into the fact that it really bizarre, it will work. You have to take every scene with grain of salt and logic must be thrown out the window. But if you turn off that part of your brain that strives for everything to be plausible, than this film will entertain.

Then for no apparent reason the movie does something I didn't quite expect, it begins to tackle a serious subject. Behind all the silliness is a story about how legalism traps us in a place of boredom and predictability. Whether it be religious legalism or secular legalism, NACHO LIBRE is about a misfit who succeeds because he goes out on a limb. He doesn't give up his religious fervor when the chips are down, when his atheist friend tells him to give into science and logic, and he doesn't give up on God because men of cloth treat him badly. He stays true to his faith and not his religion. This message is not beaten over the audiences head. This is not a religious picture. But it gives the film a dimension that I didn't expect.

Director Jared Hess, doesn't stray to far from his Napoleon Dynamite roots. But that's okay. It works here and he hits the right comic tones. I can't wait for the DVD because I'm convinced that the film really needs to be viewed a second time. Knowing what to expect allows the audience to settle into Hess skewed comedy. The film is very dry and if you don't know what to expect its easy to dismiss the comedy and think the film is horrible. You have to work at it a little bit and let it sink in. But when you get it you'll love it.

If you're looking for an hour and half of silliness you can't go wrong with NACHO LIBRE. It's cute, sweet, and you get to stare at Jack Black's upper torso for far too long. Trust me if you like weirdly sweet Mexican wrestling comedies this is the film for you.

NAHO LIBRE is really in a category ALL its OWN! Does NOT remind me of ANY OTHER MOVIE!!!

FIRST... Let us FOCUS on the Title´s content and context:

NACHO LIBRE barely had 10 million(US) at its disposal to cover the cost of its production. With the exception of Jack Black (School of Rock, King Kong), there really is no cast member who is well-known outside of the USA. In the Hispanic world, Ana de la Reguera is well-known for numerous appearances in soap operas and movies, but for the English-speaking audience, she is a complete unknown.... at least until the release of Nacho Libre!

Directed and written by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) a director who has gained a well-earned reputation for going against all the Hollywood rules of "Formula". To enjoy the schizophrenic world of Nacho Libre, however, you don't have to be to be a genius. It is a uniquely original and zany vision that no one could possibly confuse with reality.!

However, it is the kind of film that does not frame itself very well in high expectations. It is somewhat counterproductive to announce beforehand, "Oh, now here we have a very amusing and hilarious movie". (Despite the fact that for my wife, Carmen and I, "LIBRE" most certainly was both!)

Perhaps the main attraction here is a surreal simplicity, innocence and freshness, and that its basic raison d'etre is so utterly hair-brained and absurd...but in the best possible way! Shouldn't go into much more detail here, so as not to ruin it for you with anything resembling a Spoiler.

But taking this into account, I will dare to offer the following observations: Another interesting element of LIBRE is that, seemingly, it was made tailored to seek out a new market in the United States...The bilingual movie buff! (at least "new" in relation to film production.) Jack Black is listed as the sole producer. That is, he put up a LOT of his own money betting there would be a receptive bilingual viewing audience segment! .

It must be noted, however, that there are a number of attempts at humor that flat out DO NOT WORK in LIBRE. But these flubs, fortunately, are handily outnumbered by scenes that DO produce considerable laughter. The sight of Nacho Libre and his tag-teammate "Esqueleto" ("Skeleton") wrestling and taking on the world is about as close as I ever want to come to dying of laughter!

The love songs composed and sung by Jack Black are so slapstick operatic exaggerated, so insanely ridiculous and so poorly rendered, that they end up being immensely entertaining.

Most certainly, Nacho Libre is not a classic of the Seventh Art that will be much debated ten years in the future. But it definitely will keep you laughing a lot during an hour and a half of your life!!!

8******** .... ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!!!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!