DVD Review: Nacho Libre

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 25, 2006, 13:14 GMT

Jack Black is at his comic best as Ignacio, a disrespected cook at a Mexican monastery that can barely afford to feed the orphans who live there. Inspired by a local wrestling hero, he decides to moonlight as the not-so-famous Luchador "Nacho Libre" to earn money for the monastery -- not to mention the admiration of beautiful nun Sister Encarnacion. ...more

Jack Black teams up with the director of Napoleon Dynamite and the results are funny, but they don’t excel to the dizzying comedic heights of Napoleon.  Nacho is not a bomb (though if you don’t like Jack Black…) but I thought the laughs came more frequently in Napoleon.

Young Nacho (Troy Gentile) is an orphan at a Mexican orphanage and monastery.  What he wants to be in life is a luchador (roughly translated as “free style fighting” but Mexican wrestler will work), but the monks consider it a sin and try and break him of this sinful habit (unsuccessfully since there’d be no movie if they broke him of the habit).  The adult Nacho (Jack Black) is in the order and responsible for cooking for the entire orphanage.

Unfortunately, the monks are poor and the ingredients for their meals are less than fresh (actually really pretty disgusting).  Nacho goes about town excepting handouts from the local restaurants, including a bag of chips from one, for the orphans.  One day he’s attacked in the alley by Esqueleto (Hector Jimenez) and the orphans chips are destroyed in the melee. 

Meanwhile back at the monastery, a new nun has arrived named Sister Encarnacion (Ana de la Reguera).  She’s young, pretty and Nacho is smitten.  To his disappointment, she also thinks that wrestling is a sinful act.  Nacho will not be deterred from his dream and when a poster goes up for a tag team to compete for 200 pesos, he’s ready to enter the ring. 

He recalls the fight with Esqueleto and thinks that he has the skills to be his partner in the ring.  To conceal his identity, he dons a mask while he’s in the ring.  Frankly, both Nacho and Esqueleto get the crap kicked out of them but they also learn that even the losers get a piece of the take.  Soon Nacho and Esqueleto are wrestling enough to get decent food for the orphans and bestow extravagances on themselves.

Luchadors!

They want to go “professional,” that’s where the big pesos are, but are having trouble breaking into that circuit.  When the match that get Nacho into the big time against Ramses (Cesar Gonzalez) causes his identity to be revealed and his humiliation, will Sister Encarnacion be able to forgive Nacho for his sin of wrestling?

Nacho Libre is directed by Jared Hess who had a comedic hit with Napoleon Dynamite.  I can’t say that Nacho Libre rises to the comedic heights of Napoleon, but it does feel somewhat like a south of the border cousin of his.  Just freakin’ vote for Pedro, Gosh!  Nacho does have a leading man whose proven himself to be funny (in his own unique way, whether you like it or not).  So it’s Black’s movie to carry and he does. 

However, if you don’t cotton to him then you’ll hate the movie.  There’s been some controversy about his accent (which does sound like an accent that a person would adopt to offend Mexicans), but I consider it to be somewhat of an exaggeration of what Mexicans sound like.  Something like Peter Sellers’ take on French speak (though I wouldn’t say that Black is Peter Sellers).  I can imagine that some people are going to be offended by the accent.  I can’t say that I’m a big fan of wrestling but the flamboyance of the luchadors make the matches appealing.

Not to mention that Nacho and Esqueleto are so funny getting the crap beat out of them (the midget wrestlers were a highlight).  The movie also features a great soundtrack with the most memorable song being Religious Man (I am, I am).     

Nacho Libre is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  A fullscreen version is also available.  The first special feature is a commentary with Jack Black, director Jared Hess, and writer Mark White which they recorded while having dinner.  The first featurette is “Detras de la Camara” and runs 28 minutes. 

It has interviews with Jack Black, Jared Hess, producer Julia Pistor, co-writer Jerusha Hess, Mike White, Roz Music (Jack Black’s makeup lady), actor Peter Stormare (who cameos as the Gypsy Emperor), and Hector Jimenez.  Next is the 12 minute “Jack Black Unmasked!”  It’s from the Nickelodeon channel and interviews Black, Jared and Jerusha Hess, child actor Darius Rose, and stunt coordinator Nick Powell.  Next is the 3 minute “Lucha Libre” which covers Mexican wrestling.

Nacho scrapes food together to feed the orphans

It’s followed by the 2 minute “Hecho en Mexico” which is about shooting in Mexico.  There’s also the 9 minute “Moviephone Unscripted” in which Jack Black and Hector Jimenez interview each other.  “Jack Black Sings” is 6 minutes and is about alternate versions of the songs that Black sings in the film (the Ramses song and song he sings about Encarnacion). 

Finally there’s 1 minute of promos, a 2 minute commercial for El Tigre (a Nickelodeon cartoon), photo gallery, and previews.  DVD-ROM content includes links to the Nacho Libre comic book creator program and theatrical trailer website archive. 

For fans of Jack Black, Nacho Libre has him at his best.  Jared Hess has not eclipsed Napoleon but has created a distant comedic cousin.  I think that both fans of Hess and Black will find things to like in Nacho.

Nacho Libre is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Dec. 4th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.