Review: Nacho Libre

I have to start off by saying that in general I like Jack Black, I find him to be quite funny. Not as funny as Sean William Scott, who makes me laugh just by showing up on the screen, but funny nonetheless. As a result I rather enjoyed Nacho Libre. I thought it was silly fun, done pretty well. The world of the luchadores is apparently a little bit tongue in cheek, more so than, say, the WWE, and I think the movie really adopted that attitude and thus is sort of a tribute to the lucha libre culture.

Having said that, I can see why several people have proclaimed that this movie is racist. Is it funny to listen to Jack Black's deliberately terrible Spanish accent? Or is it insulting, kind of like Mickey Rooney's terrible aping of a Japanese man in Breakfast at Tiffany's? Does this movie extend the stereotype of Mexicans as being dirty and poor, or is that only because it takes place in the countryside? Not being Mexican, it's hard for me to answer these questions in any meaningful way. I do think that the movie was trying to show a surreal view of life in Mexico. The whole idea of a monastery with orphans that need food and a priest who takes up wrestling to help them out is already over-the-top, so for me it's hard to treat the depictions of Mexico and its people as being anything other than over-the-top as well. But beyond that, I can't say. I did watch this movie with a friend who is Mexican, and he was not offended by it at all, but of course that's only one person's opinion.

Regardless, I did enjoy this movie and I would say that anyone who likes silly humor has a good likelihood of enjoying this movie as well, provided they do not end up feeling like it's racist.

One last note: some have heralded this movie as being absolutely original. That's funny, since my Mexican friend told me that this movie is actually a remake of a Mexican film, that features the same plot: a priest at a monastery with starving orphans takes up the luchadore life to help keep the monastery going. Movies aren't about originality of idea, that is practically impossible to achieve in this day and age. Instead, they're about originality and effectiveness of the execution of the idea.