Nacho Libre

Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment / 2006 / 92 Minutes / PG
Street Date: October 24, 2006

If you love Jack Black and think every wicked smile and silly pratfall is hilarious, then stop reading now, because I’m still not convinced. He doesn’t really act as much as mugs. Sometimes he mugs while reading lines of dialogue. Sometimes he mugs while jumping up and down in the air. But either way, he’s a mugger, that Jack. And another thing: I don’t like comedians who act as if everything they do is funny. I’ll be the judge of whether what you’re doing is funny. Robin Williams is the undisputed master of comedic diarrhea that is so insufferable he’s become a joke (and not the good kind) within the comic community. Black is well respected, but there’s only so far he can go with the talent he possesses. If you don’t believe me, watch King Kong.

Nacho Libre is a piece of unrestrained silliness in which the Hermosa Beach, California native plays Ignacio, an orphan raised in a Mexican monastery. His lot in life is to be the monastery’s cook, ladling gruel to fellow orphans. Ignacio’s unrequited love for Sister Encarnacion (Ana de le Reguera) is what inspired him to become a Lucha Libre wrestler, the colorfully clad fighters who are worshipped throughout Mexico. Since the friars at the monastery frown upon such frivolity, Ignacio creates an alter ego, the less than stellar wrestler Nacho Libre. Together with his partner Esqueleto (Hector Jimenez), a rail thin, nerdy sort who may as well have a “Vote for Esqueleto” t-shirt, they try to win a match. Any match.

In the end, Nacho Libre is hard to hate because it’s such self-conscious fluff that can be watched with both hands tied behind your back. It’s a throwaway movie. Such unrestrained silliness should be applauded. But silliness that’s not funny is just tired and desperate. And the moment the first fart joke comes, that’s exactly where we find ourselves. Tired and desperate.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in anamorphic video. I liked this transfer very much. The overall picture is purposely oversaturated and very brown. Between the dirt and the adobe walls and the skin tones, there’s a lot of brown in this movie. Sharpness is mostly average, as faces look too pasty and don’t show much detail. Small object detail is also average and finely grained textures is below average. Color accuracy looks very good, with an artificial vividness that is intentional. The blue skies and the green leaves all show nice naturalness and the browns are so vivid, I got a real feel for the heat and poverty that afflicts the townsfolk. I found no edge halos, nor did I find any compression artifacts. Blacks are very dark and tight, and the exterior night scenes have blacks that mingled with clean bright whites, making for great contrast. None of the blacks look crushed, although shadow detail is only average. It looks as if the film Hess shot is the film I was watching, which is the best I can say.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

There’s a pretty lively Dolby Digital 5.1 track available on the DVD. I say lively because the music contains lots of detail and it spreads out across the side speakers very well. It’s a little thin at times; bass is a little subdued. But I liked the spread and its general bubbliness. The wrestling scenes add good crowd noise, which gives the film an extra sense of place. The surrounds don’t do much, but the sides show plenty of action as falling objects and lines of dialogue come in from the left and right on numerous occasions. Dialogue is very good, with a warmth and intelligibility that is also top notch. I did notice that in exterior scenes, the dialogue thins out a bit, sounding a bit hollow. Odd, but there it is. Between the screaming of the crowd and the bass of the music, dynamic range ran the gamut.

There is also a Dolby Surround 2.0 track that is pretty much as good as the 5.1 track, minus the surround participation (which didn’t add up to much anyway). It also sounds a bit constricted compared to the 5.1 track. Finally, there is also a French dubbed track. There are English Closed Captions, English subtitles, and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

There’s a pretty decent array of extras here. None of it is worthwhile, but if you plan on renting the movie, you’ll get your rental money’s worth.

The big deal extra is called Dinner and a Commentary with Jack Black, Jared Hess and Mike White. While this sounds like comedy heaven, I’m afraid that isn’t the case. There’s too much silence and much of time they just audibly eat food. They’re obviously watching the movie as it rolls, because their comments are mostly on the order of “this font sucks” and “start reminiscing, Jack!” Eventually, they hit on casting and shooting the wrestling scenes and other production-related information. But it’s too laid-back and not interesting enough. It’s like hanging out with three dudes who sound half-stoned.

There are five featurettes to enjoy, more than I would have thought possible for such a throwaway movie. The first is Detras de la Camera. This thirty-minute ditty includes plenty of Jack Black mugging, which will warm the hearts of all his fans. For me, I find this guy funny, but not nearly as funny as he thinks he is. I mean really, the guy acts as if every single freakin’ thing that comes out of his mouth is funny. Anyway, producer Julia Pistor talks about hearing the story of a Mexican priest turned wrestler. Mike White is also interviewed, as is co-writer Jerusha Hess. Pistor says Jared Hess had passed on everything since Napoleon Dynamite, but enjoyed the script and went for it. So basically it’s a combination of Black mugging and everyone else explaining how the project came about.

Jack Black Unmasked is a 13-minute piece pilfered from the Nickelodeon cable network. So as you’d expect, it’s fast-paced, silly and filled with Black doing what he does, which is acting stupid. Skip it. It’s for the kids. Although we do see Black getting his chest waxed, like Steve Carell did in Forty Year Old Virgin.

Lucha Libre is supposed to tell us about Mexican wrestling, but really it’s just another fast-paced, fluffy piece. There is some b-roll of wrestlers doing their thing and a couple of women speak who are never identified. That’s the level of interest Paramount had in putting this together.

More brief and unenlightening fluff is available on Hencho en Mexico, in which producer Julia Pistor talks of wanting to hire Mexican crewmembers and Mexican actors whenever possible. Lots of people speaking Spanish here. We learn that Mexicans crews “rock” and that there’s “so much depth and complexity” to them. Thanks, Julia! Enlightening stuff!

Moviefone Unscripted with Jack Black and Hector Jimenez is a nine-minute piece where viewer questions are answered. Like the Nickelodeon piece, this is pilfered from a third-party entity and it’s pretty fluffy. Black talks about learning how to wrestle Mexican style and learning judo when he was younger. The piece is mixed with short clips and b-roll. More fluff.

Elsewhere on the DVD there’s Jack Sings in which Black rehearses the songs “La Cancion de Ramses” (which is Spanish for “this movie is stupid”) and “La Cancion de Encarnaciion” (which is Spanish for “the extras on this DVD are a bunch of nothin’”)

Next are three Deleted Scenes, which run about nine minutes. None of them amount to anything comedically or dramatically interesting. There’s another scene with the heavy woman who is in love with Steven. The last scene involves a street fight. The video is of strong workprint quality.

Promo Spots and El Tigre Promo Spot are all commercials for, respectively, the film and the animated series.

Finally there is a Photo Gallery broken up into three sections: On Set, Luchadores, and Nacho Especial. Most of these are movie stills and promotional photos. You’ve got to think Black is pretty darnn funny to flip through these unexciting pictures.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There is some DVD-ROM content, which can be enjoyed if you don’t own a Mac. Since I do own a Mac, I can’t enjoy what is billed as a Nacho Libre Comic Book Creator and Original Theatrical Web Site Archive.

Easter Eggs

The Special Features menu has an easter egg. Watch as, for one full minutes, Jack Black gets on the director’s case for not high-fiving him fast enough.

Final Thoughts

Thin as a wafer and almost as funny, Nacho Libre treats silliness as a means to a joke. It’s not. Director Jared Hess goes to the same bag of tricks he used on Napoleon Dynamite, while star Jack Black goes to the same bag of tricks he used in every other one of his comedies. The movie feels like every scene was written on-set ten minutes before cameras rolled. For some, that will be enough. The DVD contains a very nice transfer and a whole bunch of extras that don’t amount to much.