Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

In Nacho Libre, Jack Black plays the part of a Friar called Ignacio (known as “Nacho”). Frustrated chef at a monastery which is home to many orphans by day, he is on his way to becoming frustrated Luchador (wrestler) by night. One day he sees the adoration and respect given to a famous wrestler and decides that he would like to be treated the same. A local advert for amateur tag team wrestlers catches his eye, he manages to enlist the reluctant help of a street urchin, and the rest will be history.

Well… sort of.

Amidst this excitement the arrival of beautiful nun, the new teacher at the convent, Sister Encarnacion, makes his position in life even more confusing. Already wrestling with the question of if wrestling is itself a sin, he begins to develop feelings for Encarnacion which might have serious implications for the vows of celibacy that they have both taken. In addition to all this is the fact that many of the children and one in particular look up to him as a role model (of sorts), and the fact that he and his wrestling partner, Esqueleto, are… well, they’re pretty bad at wrestling. Awful really. In fact, so terrible that they might never win a match.

They must train. They must have faith. Above all, they must have impressive costumes.

Nacho Libre looked from the trailers as if it could be a very silly and very amusing film. As it turns out, only the first part of that potential is fulfilled. It is pretty daft throughout, though at times seems to want to break away from being seen purely as a comedy. As you might expect with the subject matter of wrestling, much of the humour is physical in nature. The dynamic duo’s initial reactions to their opponents were often funny, but once the matches actually go going I found there was little amusement or entertainment value to be had from them. Jack Black is pretty good in his role, however his character just didn’t seem to have enough going for him to merit the whole movie riding on his back. (From early indications – I haven’t seen many of his films yet, though “School of Rock” looks promising – Jack Black is going to be like Steve Martin in that I like him as an actor but am rarely impressed with the films he’s in.) Hector Jimenez plays his part of the wimpy and effeminate yet strangely durable Esqueleto very well, he was often amusing just through his screen presence in this role. However his character was very unbalanced, and many intriguing questions are not so much left unanswered as ignored completely. For instance, he claims to believe in science and not God (not that the two are mutually exclusive but many people believe they are), yet believes in the mythical power of eagle eggs. A bit later he prays to the Lord for help. He states that he hates all the orphans in the world, and later says that he likes them now. There are no even vaguely suggested reasons for these strikingly paradoxical attitudes. Even in a comedy, the characters should have some level of consistency, but there is none here. Speaking of nuns, Ana de la Reguera as Encarnacion looks lovely, smiles, looks worried, and looks alarmed. Not that there’s anything actually wrong with her performance, but replace her with a mannequin with three different facial expressions and you could have pretty much the same effect. Surely something could have been done with her character other than her just being… well, there?

Unfortunately, apart from the somewhat heavy reliance on physical and occasionally toilet humour, it’s the total lack of characterisation that spoiled this movie for me. So many interesting threads were started and then discarded before they could achieve anything it just left me with a feeling that this could have been a really good film, but wasn’t. It’s not absolutely terrible either, there were some good humorous moments in them, quite a few silly ones and one or two more intelligent ones (which were actually a lot funnier – look out for the love letter if you do watch this). Romantic relationships were suggested and ignored, as was a feud between Ignacio and one of the senior friars at the monastery. These could have added to the film but, of course, didn’t. There weren’t a great number of special effects in the film but one of them looked distinctly suspect.

The musical score is noteworthy – not particularly because it’s good (which it is), but because it seems to contain so many musical styles – traditional Mexican, jazz funk, easy listening, rock. A strange combination but it works very well.

Overall I can’t really recommend Nacho Libre - unless perhaps to boys aged 9-12, I think they’ll enjoy it more than anyone else. (I’m not totally surprised by that to be honest, just disappointed.) If you watch it you probably won’t hate it, but you’ll end up thinking there are better ways you could have spent your time and money. Ardent Jack Black fans and the above-mentioned prepubescents only need feel this is a “must see” movie for them.

Other Information

MPAA rating: PG for some rough action, and crude humour including dialogue. (UK rating 12A)
Runtime: USA 100 mins, UK 92 mins (don’t ask me why we Brits got 8 minutes chopped off!!)


Quotes

HOW COULD I REFUSE THIS OFFER??

“I was wondering if you would like to join me in my quarters this night... for some toast.”

IS THIS REALLY MY CALLING IN LIFE??

“Precious Father, why have you given me this desire to wrestle and then made me such a stinky warrior?”

ACTUALLY, IS THIS REALLY YOUR CALLING IN LIFE????!!???

“Your only job is to cook. Do you not realize I have had diarrhoea since Easter?”

THE TRUTH CAN REALLY HURT…

“We never win because you are fat!”


Related Reviews

Jack Black also starred in King Kong - which I liked even less than this one!

See also: Top Ten Comedies


Recommended: No

Video Occasion: None of the Above