always amusing

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2007)

I'm not a fan of Jack Black; to be honest, I thought "School of Rock" to be pandering, absurd, and just a waste of time. And Black is one of those comic actors who's always essentially playing himself - his schtick is his personality and vice versa, a kind of comedy not to my taste.
But in "Nacho Libre" Black doesn't play Jack Black; and his basic lack of acting talent actually enhances the character.
The film is not a satire of the wrestling business in Mexico but an offbeat comment on it. It helps to understand that professional wrestling in Mexico is (or at least for a long time was) a national passion, the low budget everyman's fantasy that made the difficult poverty of Mexico a little easier to bear. (It certainly helps to have seen a couple Santo movies.) I didn't feel it was racist - Mexico has grown up somewhat in the past twenty years, meaning that Mexicans have learned to smile at themselves on occasion, so I don't think they'll be offended by this film - it certainly doesn't demean them; on the contrary, despite the foolishness of the central characters, the film is really an odd, offhanded celebration of self-respect, which is the other quality the Mexicans have struggled to acquire, especially in confrontation with the bullyboy neighbor to the North. At worst, as far as real Mexicans are concerned, the film might be too silly to rate further consideration. It is certainly consistently ridiculous, which is actually a quality in its favor - there's no effort to drop suddenly back into reality anywhere here, it's a fantasy through and through.
I don't think this is a great film, by any means; but I don't feel that watching it was a total waste of time. It is not laugh-out-loud funny, but it is certainly always amusing.