Nacho Libre

819 Words2 Pages

One of the essential qualities, I believe, a true cinephile must possess is an ability to enjoy the not so finer things in film. A movie lover must be able to watch a stupid, poor quality picture and still have a good time. Otherwise, that person risks becoming a stereotypical, pretentious, snooty film nerd. Thankfully, I have not yet lost that indispensable feature. I can still enjoy clearly mediocre (or worse) movies, such as Nacho Libre. This comedy, from director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), focuses on Ignacio (Jack Black), a monk at an orphanage in Mexico. Unsatisfied with his duties at the monastery (“Maybe I should get a better duty!”), Ignacio enlists the help of an impoverished man (Héctor Jiménez) to be his partner in Lucha Libre, a form of Mexican wrestling. Ignacio takes on the stage name Nacho, while his ally becomes Esqueleto. In addition to the frowned upon wrestling, Nacho also leads an unconventional life for a man of the cloth as he pines for a newly arrived nun named Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera). Undeniably, Jack Black represents the best and funniest part of Nacho Libre. He is at the top of his stupidly comic …show more content…

Now, this screenplay doesn’t deserve any Oscars or other formal accolades. The plot moves a little slow and the characters are thin at best, but the writers do a phenomenal job of keeping the humor going throughout the film. Many comedies begin strong, providing laughter throughout the first half or so of the film, but then the writers seem to realize they need to move the narrative along and dispense with much of the funniest jokes in the latter half of the movie. Nacho Libre does not suffer from this uneven comedy. You will not go more than a few minutes with at least a smile (and probably a laugh) during any part of Nacho Libre. (It is also endlessly

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