Film Reviews

Nacho Libre

• Rating:
• Director: Jared Hess
• Starring: Ana de la Reguera
• Details: US / 92mins (12A).

This was really disappointing. Having loved Hess' previous instalment Napoleon Dynamite and being quietly amused by Jack Black's lowbrow antics for some time now, Nacho Libre was a film pencilled in long ago as one to watch out for. However, things never turn out the way you want them to and Nacho Libre can be consigned to the 'if only' bin. Black plays Nacho, a young man raised in a monastery south of the Mexican border where he now works as a cook. To buy better food for the kids and achieve some sort of respect from his peers, Nacho dons a mask and cape and takes to the ring to wrestle in the local Lucha Lucha tournament. The stakes are raised when Sister Encarnacion (de la Reguera) arrives at the monastery and Nacho, infatuated with the pretty nun (a dead ringer for Penelope Cruz), hopes to prove that being a Luchador isn't a sin and win the battle royal tournament so he can buy a bus for the kids. Never once hitting the wit and charm he achieved with his previous outing, Hess settles down to old cliches, unfunny stereotypes and fart jokes. Watching Black repeatedly slammed into the canvas is hilarious the first five times but after a while it gets a little old. Hess keeps his visual flair alive as he throws every colour in the spectrum up at the screen; but the poorly scripted plot and recycled jokes kills any enthusiasm for laughter. Black again refuses to read the script and just decides to play Jack Black, but in fairness to him this time, he does throw in a Spanish accent even if it does put Charlton Heston to shame. An opportunity lost, Nacho Libre sees Hess take a step back while Black treads water. Again.

Review by Gavin Burke