Nacho Libre
(Paramount Region 1 NTSC DVD)
(2006)
review by Died with Boots On

The lovechild of Director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and Executive Producer Steve Nicolaides (The School of Rock), this movie encapsulates elements of both of these genre paradigms without breaking the third wall, something star Jack Black does far too often with his inconsistent typecast character. It's not that I have a problem with that, in fact, I loved the melding of the two films and I love that sense of humor that both movies blossom with, but it just didn't bring anything new to the table. I love Jack Black's school of comedy, the "always-let-them-see-you-sweat" mentality, but he didn't really fill the bill. Rather, Nacho's sidekick, Esqueleto (Jiménez), which is quite fittingly Spanish for "Skeleton," was much funnier and reminded me of Pedro in "Napoleon Dynamite," with the lingering shots of his caricatured expressions and his quirky mannerisms, including his undying love for corn-on-the-cob-on-a-stick. In one of the funnier pieces of dialogue, Esqueleto asks Nacho why he hates him just because "…I don't believe in God, I believe in science." Also, in an attempt to create a fighter out of Nacho, Esqueleto taunts, "I hate all the orphans in the world."

The movie begins with a young Ignacio (Nacho) stealing fabric and a potpourri of odds and ends from the monastery where he is more or less imprisoned. Brainwashed into submission through long durations of repetitive punishments, Ignacio is finally thrown into the kitchen where he finds himself staring down a pot of boiling water, mayonnaise, and a bag of potato chips. What culinary masterpiece will he cook up with these ingredients? The answer is yielded a few decades down the line when Ignacio (Black) disjointedly serves orphan children their, um, breakfast, or lunch or something, which consists of a brownish mayo-slathered soupy bowl of God-knows-what with chips sprinkled on top. The orphanage monastery is in heartbroken condition and in worse hands. The alpha-male monk ( Richard Montoya) at the monastery is a bitter, jealous, lusty ruffian who doesn't come short of being guilty of every deadly sin in one scene alone. When the beautiful Sister Encarnación (Reguera) comes to the monastery, Ignacio and all of the other Brothers seem to forget their vow of celibacy, and Ignacio falls deeply in love with the nun, an impossible relationship from the very start.

While in town buying the only ingredients his budget allows, Ignacio watches in awe as swarms of people grovel at the feet of the almost godlike "luchadore" named Ramses, played by the real-life wrestler Cesar Gonzalez. He envies his godlike status and eyeballs his flashy appearance and secretly wishes he could enjoy such a glamorous lifestyle. Upon returning to the monastery, a scrawny catlike drifter leaps from a rooftop into the alley and wrestles with Ignacio until he clutches the bag of nacho chips for the orphans, the key ingredient in all of Ignacio's creations. Just as quickly as he came, he leapt back up to the rooftop and melted into the scenery. Realizing he had no more spending money for more nachos and that the quality of his food could only sink, he resolved to enter the "Lucha Libre" tournament and become a luchadore. And who more perfect a tag-team luchadore than the cunningly underhanded and stealthy chip thief.

Baiting the alley with a handful of chips, the mouse fell right into the trap, and Ignacio dove on top of him. After bickering, he agreed to be his tag-team partner in the tournament. Ensnarled between his bleak life at the monastery with his number-one passions, the orphan children and Sister Encarnación, and his number-two passion, the glamour of wrestling, Ignacio schizophrenically divides into his dormant, religious personality, and Nacho, the prizefighting luchadore. He and Esqueleto never win a single fight, however, since they are a crowd favorite, they are paid to continue fighting. Meanwhile, Nacho becomes the idol of the children at the monastery, and his identity is jeopardized. Eventually, this gets him in trouble with the monastery's Brotherhood, and he can no longer pursue both of his passions. However, he realizes that the right thing to do is to continue fighting for his higher cause, which must surely prevail in the end if God is on his side. Even though they are terrible fighters, they continue raking in money for the orphanage. Eventually, this is not enough, and Nacho consults The Gypsy Emperor (Stormare), who advises he climb a treacherous cliff and drink the yolk of an eagle egg to possess its mystical powers. Even though this does him no good, it makes for one of the funniest scenes in the movie during the finale.

Peter Stormare was certainly a welcomed surprise even though his part was far too small. I have no complaints about the cast, other than Ana de la Reguera's static nature, but I guess that was just in her character. Jack Black delivered a pretty good performance, but was easily outgunned by his counterpart, Héctor Jiménez. In some ways, the two protagonists were each plucked from the two different movies that " Nacho Libre" embodied, Jack Black mirroring Dewey Finn, and Héctor Jiménez crafted in the image of Napoleon Dynamite. Again, I thought this was a very funny film with a very rare style of comedic execution that is trademark of its parent movies, however, it just doesn't have as much fun as It should have, considering its background. Some of the fight scenes could have been whittled down, and their abilities as wrestlers could have improved, however, we get both an eyeful and an earful of their floundering around in the ring over and over again. Don't get me wrong. The physical comedy is spot-on, just not during those episodes. This is a movie that delivers exactly what it promises, and nothing more, however those who found either "Napoleon Dynamite" or "The School of Rock" funny will surely enjoy this movie.

Paramount presents Nacho Libre as a special edition DVD, featuring a cast and crew commentary, deleted scenes, a multi-part featurette, and more.