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Nacho Libre

Doesn't work as offbeat sports movie or geek chic

By CHRIS WANGLER | June 21, 2006

2.0 Stars

NACHO LIBRE: Jared Hess falls victim to sophomore slump.

Sophomore slump 1, Napoleon Dynamite director 0. Nacho (Jack Black) is a lowly Mexican monastery cook who feeds the orphans gray goop because the monks won’t splurge for the good shit. With the help of Esqueleto (Héctor Jiménez), a bum who looks like a grown-up version of Truffaut’s wild child, he becomes a famous luchador (freestyle wrestler) and woos a reluctant nun. From the outset, Jared Hess reaches for laughs with potty humor and shameless slapstick. Black’s boffo physicality picks up some of the slack, especially in one pre-match song reminiscent of Tenacious D, but he lacks the leading-man cachet to outwrestle a formulaic script that’s too respectful of the Church, the Holy Virgin and the locals. Result: a safe, value-neutral distraction that works neither as an offbeat sports movie nor as the latest fad in the flagging geek-chic category.

Topics: Reviews , Tenacious D, Jack Black, Napoleon Dynamite, More

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