Movie Review: Nacho Libre - Page 2

One question that may be worth raising here is whether or not Jared Hess has a Mexican background. He certainly has a weird, kitschy fascination with Mexican culture - first with Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite and now an entire movie about luchadores. This movie was cast almost exclusively with lesser-known Mexican actors and real wrestlers.

Although it’s nice to see a lot of outside talent being given a chance to shine, I have to wonder if Hess’ only goal was to milk unintentional humour from their accents. I’m not saying the movie is racist, but only that Hess seems to think exaggerated Mexican culture is inherently funny, which is not the case (particularly not when everyone in the movie is Mexican except for Jack Black). He also assumes the campy and playful world of Mexican wrestling will bring automatic laughs, without realizing you need something more to keep people watching.

Believe it or not, Nacho Libre was a lot more outlandish than Napoleon Dynamite. The world is very cartoony from the start. For a movie that is supposed to be loosely based on a true story, it’s pretty hard to actually believe any of this really happened. The movie was shot on location in Mexico, but it doesn’t feel like it. Everything looks artificial, as though it was shot on a set somewhere. It never really gets across the feeling of authenticity that Hess was going for.

There is nothing to ground the ridiculousness of it all and no straight characters to play off of. The closest we have is Nacho’s love interest, Sister Encarnación (played by Ana de la Reguera), who mostly seems oblivious to Nacho’s bizarre behaviour. It’s hard to identify with the characters in this movie, whereas Napoleon Dynamite connected with viewers because we all knew a nerdy kid like that in high school.

Nacho Libre also lacks the full assortment of funny characters that Napoleon Dynamite had (think what that movie would have been like without Pedro, Deb, Kip, and Uncle Rico). In Nacho Libre, the only interesting character is Nacho himself. While Jack Black has some decent moments, he seemed somewhat suppressed in this movie. I think his outrageous and over the top comedic style may have been ill-suited for the tone. Hess wants to get the most out of awkward silences, subtle one-liners, and facial expressions, but Black needs room to work his magic and doesn’t do well with muted characters. (You can briefly see the contrast when he lets loose and explodes into song near the end of the movie.)

Article Author: Sean Dwyer

Sean Dwyer is the editor of FilmJunk.com. He also spouts random thoughts over at www.seandwyer.net.

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