Ouch...

Rating: 2/10 (30 July 2006)

I hope that Jack Black and every person involved with the production of this movie has my home address so they can send me a written apology for my time spent in the theatre. What do you do when you just had a big hit movie and one more joke? You get a backer and make a one note bad film.
Husband and wife Jared and Jershua Hess, the creative team behind "Napoleon Dynamite," join forces with Mike White and Jack Black, the team behind "School Of Rock," to try and drop kick another hit with the tale of Nacho Libre. The concept, perhaps the most interesting and funny aspect of the movie, has a Mexican Friar Ignacio (Black) as a man of the cloth that has to turn to Mexican Wrestling to make enough money to feed the orphans.
While the film does have a couple of great guffaws and it's share of slapstick antics to shock us into laughing, the bulk of the movie relies on Jack Black's ability to carry the weight of the entire film on his back and suplex it. He can't do it with one joke, but what an effort he puts in. Jack Black does his worst "typical" Mexican accent and body slams his signature style of quick quips effectively, but it just is not enough to make the whole movie work .
This is the kind of movie that catch phrases come from, but I'll put a figure-four leg lock on anyone that tries to repeat these lines to me. Some times this kind of movie works, but that is when the star has a cast to support him. The script only introduces one other comic character into the movie and he only has one joke too and it's the same one Jack Black is telling.
In what could have been a very funny scene with Black singing to the current wrestling champion, the director ends the scene way too short. I'm sure they has a great time filming this movie, but during the editing process someone should have noticed that the film just wasn't working. In the middle of the film is a sequence of scenes that seem to be put in just because the director "thought" they were funny. Not only do they not follow the plot or progress the story at all, but they don't even stay in the same genre of comedy. There are two jokes that would have fit into "Airplane!" and others that wanted to be in a dark Wes Anderson-esquire comedy.
Some positive things I can say is that the costumes and set design was meticulous and perfectly hilarious. The location shooting in Oaxaca, Mexico is beautiful and sets the mood wonderfully. By using the full use of the natural beauty, with the cinematography to capture the amazing work of all the technical aspects of the film, this film was visually compelling.
When I left the theatre I saw some younger people still laughing outside, maybe this unfocused film would be funny for someone that has not been jaded by watching intelligent and inspired comedies. Sorry Mr. Black, but I have seen great comedies and this is not one of them.
He may be the champ, but I will not step back in the ring with Nacho Libre.