Jared and Jerusha Hess recapture some of
the feel of their first film, Napoleon Dynamite, straddling the line between humor and oddness
as they tell the tale of a Mexican monastery cook (Jack Black) who desires to
wrestle and wrestles with his desire for a cute nun.
A vehicle for its curvaceous star, Jack Black, this odd
comedy is also the husband-wife duo Jared and Jerusha Hess’s follow-up to the
left-field hit Napoleon Dynamite. (Their writing collaborator, Mike
White, also co-wrote Black’s hit School of Rock.) Without a doubt the
best wrestling movie ever set at a Mexican Catholic orphanage, it features
Black as a put-upon cook who yens for the ring. (The story was perhaps inspired
by a Mexican wrestling priest, Fray Tormenta.) The feel of the movie is not
unlike Napoleon Dynamite, and similarly straddles the line between funny
and merely strange, just as the underdog Nacho character walks the line between
heroic and pathetic. (He’s not exactly an instant success in the ring.) Much
humor is supposed to come from Black’s accented pronunciation of phrases like
“stretchy pants.” (Funny.) Then there are scenes like the one where Nacho and
his wrestling partner train by, among other things, tossing a beehive.
(Strange.) Did I mention that the potential romantic interest (Ana de la Reguera, who looks
like Penélope Cruz’s prettier sister) is a nun?
I don’t know who suggested the apparently obscure “Hombre Religioso,” recorded
in 1975 by Mr. Loco, as a recurring motif in the movie, but the goofy/charming
song fits right in with the Spanglish feel. Nacho Libre is like that.
It’s not the best movie (and not as good as Napoleon), and if the whole
scenario sounds dumb, I doubt watching it will convince you otherwise. But even
its oddest moments feel organic, not studied, and it hangs together right to
the end.
posted and rating revised 8/15/13
