Chancho, when you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2012)

"Your only job is to cook! Do you not realise I have had diarrhoea since Easters?!" - Senor Ramon
Thus far, all of Jared Hess' films have been about likable weirdo losers who become likable weirdo heroes with a little help from their likable weirdo friends. "Nacho Libre", which finds actor Jack Black playing a Mexican monk/cook who enters the world of wrestling to make money for a local orphanage, continues this trend.
The film was heavily criticised upon release, but Jared Hess makes cult films which tend to appeal to a select few and tend to get funnier and funnier with multiple re-watches (the "Lebowski Effect"). They're designed for the kind of viewer who likes weird intonations, bizarre nuances, freakish characters and lines like "Those eggs were a lie, Esqueleto. A LIE! They give me no eagle powers! They give me no nutrieeeeents!" spoken absolutely dead-pan in ridiculous accents by odd cartoon characters. You know who you are.
Much of the film's humour plays like a weird riff on Catholicism, with wrestlers being viewed as false idols and wrestling being deemed innately sacrilegious ("Wrestling is ungodly Ignacio. People cheer for him because he is a false idol!", "It is in the Bible not to wrestle your neighbour!", "I don't believe in God, I believe in Science!").
Some have viewed the film as being anti-Catholic, but Hess is a devout believer and paints religion, and indeed most of his cast, with a warm glow. The film co-stars the sublime Ana de la Reguera as a fetishized nun. Our hero wants her to praise his heroism by break her vows of celibacy, but she's oblivious to his yearnings and instead gives him a hilarious thumbs up.
The film, surprisingly, doesn't exploit Jack Black's singing gifts. He's given one funny song - he hums "Piel Canela" with a mariachi band - but most of his other songs are truncated or interrupted.
8.5/10 - See "Eagle vs Shark". Multiple viewings required.