reviewed by Brian "The Naked Gun" Felts
& Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
I do not understand why Jack Black would go from working with Academy Award ® winning director Peter Jackson, to working with one of the least comedic talented team in decades. I believe Jack Black has a good heart and he means well when doing kids movies, but working with Nickelodeon Pictures and the two a**holes who created Napoleon Dynamite was the wrong move for him.
Black (King Kong) is Ignacio, a friar, who is a cook at a mission which doubles as an orphanage. When he decides that his religious duties should be something more important than cooking for the monastery, he decides to live out his life long dream of becoming a wrestler to earn money for the children at the orphanage. However, his religious beliefs, the friars, and the new nun, Sister Encarnación, played by Ana de la Reguera (Dust To Dust,) who he has feelings for, are in disagreement over his life as a wrestler named Nacho.
The first mistake the producers made was making this a Nickelodeon Film. That immediately makes it a film for 12 year old boys who find the sounds of farting funny. The second mistake the producers made was having Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess write and direct this film. I have said repeatedly that the team which created Napoleon Dynamite was not funny. They once again proved how right I am by doing this film. Exactly how many scenes does Jack Black have to be coming in and out of a Toilet for it to be humorous? One certainly didn't work, so I highly doubt four times is going to be any better. Oh, and why is it funny to see fat little kids waddle around on screen? Or a really fat chick falling for Nacho's skinny wrestling partner? I don't find it funny and I don't find either one of the no-talented a** clowns--that would be Jared and Jerusha Hess--funny. If you find them or this movie funny, I hope you enjoy your job as the trash picker at the dump sites.
Jack Black is a fine actor and I would only hope that he does not act in anymore of these kinds of movies. He is a great physical actor and has command of his facial movements. Probably a step below Jim Carrey, but his command is much more in the real emotional features as appose to Carrey outrageous movement.
The only bright spot to this movie was the actress Ana de la Reguera. It appears to be her first America based movie, way to go agent, and she tries to add some quality to the film, but there is only so much that anyone could do with the script. She is also a hottie and that didn't hurt the film, in fact, it was the only thing that didn't hurt the film.
This movie should have you asleep in the first five minutes. However, if you have brought a bunch of ten year old boys to the movie, prepared to be tortured by the movie and their laughter for one hour and twenty minutes.
Brian - the Naked Gun If this was a comedy, I laughed out loud only once. The rest of the time, I watched its cast try SO DAMN HARD to get laughs that simply weren't there. The only thing I'll disagree with Brian on is Jack Black is NOT a fine actor. He was in over his head in "King Kong," over the top in "Envy,"
over the top in "School of Rock," over the top in "Saving Silverman" and now simply not funny in "Nacho Libre." The only decent
performance he gave was in "Shallow Hal," and I credit directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly for that one. He does not have command
of his tools as an actor and needs to learn control and the importance of choices in his comedic performances before he can knock one out of the
park. Everyone in this movie tried too hard to make the material funny. I honestly think this picture could have been better if it allowed the situation to be funny enough. The writing for this movie was horrible, using out-of-place American colloquialisms in its Mexican setting. Director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) seemed to be doing his best Wes Anderson impersonation. Hess missed a handful of very important aspects of filmmaking, such as matching up sightlines and making sure groups of characters were "looking" at the same off camera point of reference. His inexperience was highly evident. There were also very stupid subplots which went no where, such as the big woman who had a thing for Esqueleto and the romantic feelings Ignacio had for transplanted sister Encarnacion, played by Ana de la Regura. Several characters had no set up including Esqueleto. We don't exactly know if he was homeless and starving, or if he was gay, or why Ignacio sought him out as a wrestling partner in the first place. All we know for sure is that he is a weirdo. So much was not given any background, thus, many of the film's characters became one dimensional. Overall, this movie is a blow to non-mainstream filmmaking. It has no decent rhythm. The cinematography sucked and the acting was second rate. Once again, this movie simply showcased how un-funny Jack Black really is. The only thing that upset me more than the piss-poor manner of filmmaking and scriptwriting it carried was the fact that several people in the cinema were actually laughing. I'm convinced your average non-thinking movie goer simply laughs at this un-funny material because, one, it's what they paid for and they don't want to be disappointed; two, it helps them justify paying $10 to see the movie and three, it's exactly what Hollywood movie marketing has told them to do. They've been told its a funny movie, so they think it's funny. I have to say to those of you in the cinemas that night who found "Nacho Libre" laugh-out-loud funny, PLEASE start thinking for yourselves. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
Dir. Jared Hess
Writ. Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess, Mike White
Act. Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera