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NO DYNAMITE HERE
NACHO LIBRE (PG) Nacho Libre is Jared Hess'
(Napoleon Dynamite) second directorial outing
and certainly displays, at times, the deliber
ate pacing, endearingly skewed creation-of-
universe-through-quickcut-oddball-detail, and
juxtaposition of attic-artifact characters with a
sprawling sense of landscape (in this case the
desolate, captivating Mexican countryside and
rectory in which it was filmed and mesmerizingly
weird-looking extras) that
garnered him a grand Jury
prize at Sundance two
years ago. Unfortunately,
these are too often over
whelmed by the gnawing,
face-twisting, maelstrom
of organic debris known as
Jack Black.
He of the 0 plays the
titular Nacho, a guero (that
would be "white boy")
monk consigned to doling
out black bean gruel at a
rural orphanage who dons
the stretchy-pants of the
luchador to earn a bit of
respect. His homely thief
of a sidekick, Esqueleto
(played by Hector Jimenez
in his first English-language role), comes closest
to approximating the fascinatingly listless pop
art deadpan Hess coaxed from Dynamite’s motley
crew. His blood-curdling, remarkably feminine
yelps of pair, dot the film with reliable guffaws.
But the dancing monkey mugging and manboy
prance for which Black is known occupy the lion's
share of shots.
In the process, there's also a forbidden love
story, a sports film complete with appropriately
devious montage, buddy comedy, coming-of-age
revelation, and even hints of the true backstory
of monk Fray Tormenta/ Father Sergio who fought
to raise money for his orphanage, though neither
Black nor the script conjure enough feeling to
make that last convincing. There are also poop
jokes, crotch jokes, midgets, consumption of
repugnant substances, and all of the other hall
marks of gross-out slapstick summer comedy.
Lots of poop jokes. Like
five in the first 15 minutes.
The.e are laughs, cer
tainly, but also overlong
stretches without them.
Those who take pleasure in
patented Jack Black schtick
will find moments in which
he is at the top of his
game, but plenty in which
it seems a more seasoned
directorial hand might have
helped him stay there.
Nacho's pleading insistence
that he does know a "but-
tload of crap about the
gospel" represents a near
perfect marriage of honest
underdog bravado and
winking satire, but feels
rather too much as if is destined for midday TNT.
Somewhere in this chupacabra's nest of hand-
hewn Spandex and half-refried ideas are at least
five movies that might've each made for a fine
hour and a half. Stitched together as they are,
however, they seem to be nipping at each other's
haunches more often than delivering the pile-
driver of hilarity to the face.
Brandon Waddell
Jack Black
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www. bobsalon. com
.mpridoy-if 0av 9-7 Saturday ?■<'.
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