If you like Benny Hill

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2006)

Simple test: did you like "Napoleon Dynamite?" If so, you'll like this too. If you didn't, or if you can't stand Benny Hill, the Three Stooges, SNL, or... well, ANY absurdist, skit-based, none-too-pc comedy with mildly tasteless humor and the occasional predictable pratfall - Ne-VER MIND! My wife and I laughed heartily several times and smiled indulgently a lot, which puts this light years ahead of "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" and WAY too much other higher-toned failed comedy. It doesn't compare structurally to Black's crisp "School of Rock" and is nowhere close to the intelligence of "High Fidelity;" this is just a campy jokefest, which should be fine if that's something you can handle.
Yeah, this picture COULD'VE been better, and if you're looking for stuff to DISlike you'll find many problems: campy plot, disjointed pacing, gags that don't come to an apparent punchline... But that kind of absurd irrationalism can work, and if it works for you, you'll enjoy this film.
I don't want to give anything away, but the relationship between Brother Nacho (Jack Black) and Sister Encarnacion (Ana de la Reguera), lustful on his side, sweetly bewildered and uninterested on hers, is one of the main sources of humor here! If you don't get that, I don't know what business you have reviewing comedy. More could have been done with Esqueleto (wonderful performance by Hector Jimenez) and Candida (Carla Jimenez), true, but get over it! If you think comedy HAS to make sense, you're going to miss out on a WHOLE lot of comedy!