[Potential spoiler? Maybe. Also, Refered to briefly in an earlier post.]
Of course I saw Nacho Libre on its opening weekend. Well, I didn't really make it a point or anything, but it sounded like fun and it was. It seems a great many people really didn't like it or, if anything, the film did little for them. Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman felt that way. But I'm gonna have to straight-up agree with Manohla Dargis' review in the New York Times: Jack Black's "Nacho" is a "tender heart in stretchy pants and ankle boots". That pretty much sums it up.
I actually don't really want to get into the plot of the movie. Plenty of other people are writing about that and in a such a way that is probably much more entertaining than what I could produce here. But what I find so interesting is everyone who is panning this film is doing so on the basis of Jack Black's "Nacho" because he is, well, not Jack Black. That is, because he's playing a role that is a little different from his usual characters. I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Black, in fact, I find he can get downright annoying if watched for long periods of time. But there are times when he is actually quite funny, and he successfully uses some of those stock moves to make us laugh in Libre: his myriad of facial expressions, singing and quick, jerky movements. Never the staight-man, and I appreciate that. He exercises something in Libre, however, that we hardly ever see from him: earnestness. It's strange because I agree that "Nacho" is almost an under-dog, but that's not exactly the right kind of profile to give his (or his character's actual name in the film, "Ignacio"'s) persona. He doesn't ever seem to notice that he's actually a mediocre wrestler and that, in a way, is inspirational. I almost felt like I could be the champion of orphan's day-old tortilla chips everywhere! But of course there is the (almost) always faithful, however quirky, sidekick who does most of the work, or in this case, takes more than his fair share of the beatings (Héctor Jiménez is *wonderful* as "Esqueleto"; where did they find this guy?!).
I'd also like to point out that Jared Hess, his wife Jerusha Hess and Mike White nailed a good, simple comedy. That's not the easiest thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I have criticisms, but Libre is polished in the way that Napoleon Dynamite just couldn't have been as a first film. So yeah, don't go into this movie looking for the best film you've ever seen or because you want to see the Jack Black you saw in High Fidelity or School of Rock (and certainly not Tenacious D's Black), but because you want to smile, laugh and have fun. I mean, when was the last time you had fun at the movies? (Well, okay, I did at V for Vendeta and Me and You and Everyone We Know, but who's counting?!)
Nacho, Nacho!
[Potential spoiler? Maybe. Also, Refered to briefly in an earlier post.]
Of course I saw Nacho Libre on its opening weekend. Well, I didn't really make it a point or anything, but it sounded like fun and it was. It seems a great many people really didn't like it or, if anything, the film did little for them. Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman felt that way. But I'm gonna have to straight-up agree with Manohla Dargis' review in the New York Times: Jack Black's "Nacho" is a "tender heart in stretchy pants and ankle boots". That pretty much sums it up.
I actually don't really want to get into the plot of the movie. Plenty of other people are writing about that and in a such a way that is probably much more entertaining than what I could produce here. But what I find so interesting is everyone who is panning this film is doing so on the basis of Jack Black's "Nacho" because he is, well, not Jack Black. That is, because he's playing a role that is a little different from his usual characters. I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Black, in fact, I find he can get downright annoying if watched for long periods of time. But there are times when he is actually quite funny, and he successfully uses some of those stock moves to make us laugh in Libre: his myriad of facial expressions, singing and quick, jerky movements. Never the staight-man, and I appreciate that. He exercises something in Libre, however, that we hardly ever see from him: earnestness. It's strange because I agree that "Nacho" is almost an under-dog, but that's not exactly the right kind of profile to give his (or his character's actual name in the film, "Ignacio"'s) persona. He doesn't ever seem to notice that he's actually a mediocre wrestler and that, in a way, is inspirational. I almost felt like I could be the champion of orphan's day-old tortilla chips everywhere! But of course there is the (almost) always faithful, however quirky, sidekick who does most of the work, or in this case, takes more than his fair share of the beatings (Héctor Jiménez is *wonderful* as "Esqueleto"; where did they find this guy?!).
I'd also like to point out that Jared Hess, his wife Jerusha Hess and Mike White nailed a good, simple comedy. That's not the easiest thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I have criticisms, but Libre is polished in the way that Napoleon Dynamite just couldn't have been as a first film. So yeah, don't go into this movie looking for the best film you've ever seen or because you want to see the Jack Black you saw in High Fidelity or School of Rock (and certainly not Tenacious D's Black), but because you want to smile, laugh and have fun. I mean, when was the last time you had fun at the movies? (Well, okay, I did at V for Vendeta and Me and You and Everyone We Know, but who's counting?!)
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