Two years ago, writer/director Jared Hess achieved unforeseen commercial success with his film Napoleon Dynamite. The movie was made for only $400,000, but grossed over $45 million in theaters and untold sums on DVD. Hess’s directorial debut signaled the arrival of an exciting new voice in American comedy.
Napoleon Dynamite’s status as a modern comedy classic created a great deal of excitement and anticipation for Hess’s sophomore effort Nacho Libre. A collaboration with Jack Black on a film about Mexican wrestling seems perfect on paper, but the results are a disappointment.
Despite many hilarious moments, the movie is ultimately an uneasy collaboration between two conflicting comedic styles: the dry, subdued writing and directing Hess favours mixed with the manic and physical acting of Black.
Black stars as Ignacio, a Mexican monk whose dreams of being a wrestler were crushed at a young age by the monks who adopted him as a child. As an adult, he secretly lives out his fantasies using the name Nacho Libre, and plans to use his winnings to help the orphanage where he was raised. In of plot, that’s pretty well it for the entire movie: you get the standard “underdog overcomes great obstacles to succeed” structure (think Rocky, but with Mexican wrestling).
This would not be a problem if Hess had compensated for the lack of strong narrative with quirky and eccentric characters, as in Napoleon Dynamite. The minimalist plot of his previous film was merely an excuse to get a collection of great characters together, resulting in comic gold. Unfortunately, apart from Jack Black’s protagonist, none of the characters in Nacho Libre are well-developed or particularly interesting.
The two secondary characters with the most screen time are Black’s wrestling partner, and a nun named Encarnaçion, Nacho’s love interest. Neither of them have much to do beyond providing the basic character motivation needed for the protagonist.
Without a strong plot or compelling characters to hold the movie together, Nacho Libre becomes little more than a series of jokes, and even those fail to mesh together as smoothly as one would hope. Jared Hess and Jack Black have both proven themselves in comedy, but each one has done it in very different ways. Hess’s style is very quiet and subdued, while Jack Black subscribes to the John Belushi school of loud, anarchistic physical comedy. They both bring their distinctive styles to Nacho Libre, but the combination does n’t work.
Black delivers some wonderful deadpan that fits perfectly with Hess’s vision, including the showstopper: “When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room. It is for fun.” Had he given himself over fully to this style, the movie may have worked. Yet Black and co-writer/producer Mike White (who held the same positions in Black’s Orange County and School of Rock) keep interjecting more traditional Jack Black-isms into the character that don’t fit in with the rest of the piece. The arched eyebrows and mugging sneers that made him a star feel completely out of character here, as do his musical numbers.
His over-the-top slapstick antics are simply the antithesis of the subdued comic tone that Hess is able to capture so well. Whether they draw laughs or not, these distracting moments feel like they are out of another movie.
Nacho Libre may be an unfocused mess, but it is in no way a total disaster. For all its faults, the film has many scenes and lines that are undeniably hilarious. While the plot may be conventional and, at times, overly sentimental, its emotionally satisfying structure will put a smile on your face.
The movie also confirms Jared Hess’s status as a filmmaker with his own unique voice. From the opening frames, it is clear that this is his movie, and it’s nice to see a comedic filmmaker who is interested in experimenting with the language of film while still making the audience laugh.
Nacho Libre boasts bright and crisply composed images, edited together with style and precision. It’s just unfortunate that the screenplay was not given the same careful attention to detail, which is something this film needs desperately.
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].