> Extremely silly... and surprisingly sweet !

Bluffmaster

NACHO LIBRE

BOX OFFICE SUMMARY

Box Office Total : $ 80,197,993
Box Office Opening : $ 28,309,599
No. of Weeks in Top 10 : 5
Highest Ranking : 2

MOVIE INFO

Cast

Ignacio/Nacho - Jack Black
Sister Encarnacion - Ana del la Reguera
Esqueleto - Hector Jimenez
Chancho - Darius A. Rose
Juan Pablo - Moises Arias
Chuy - Diego Eduardo Gomez
Segundo Nunez - Carlos Maycotte
Guillermo - Richard Montoya
Ramses - Cesar Gonzalez
Emperor - Peter Stormare
Directed by : Jared Hess

Runtime : 1 hr 40 min

Genre : Comedy

Language : English

Rated : PG

On DVD : 24/10/2006

For this "Nacho'" comes courtesy of those responsible for "Napoleon Dynamite," that stir-causer from two years back about a goofball teenager helping his high school friend's bid for class presidency. Many loved Napoleon, yet equal numbers hated (or simply didn't get) him. Nacho (née Ignacio aka Jack black ) is unlikely to polarize audiences that same way.

Ignacio is an Orphan raised by friars in a Mexican monastery. Ignacio is essentially a good guy looking out for the kids at the orphanage monastery at which he works as head cook (and, I daresay, bottle washer). From his childhood ignacio has been attracted towards Wrestling but it is considered a sin to even Talk about it in the monastery. Relentlessly driven to provide a more varied bill of fare -- and boyishly eager to impress lovely young Sister Encarnacion ( Ana de le Reguera), a new addition to the monastery staff -- Ignacio wants to join the ranks of Lucha Libre wrestlers, those larger-than-life kings of the ring who are idolized throughout Mexico. The friars forbid such worldly activities, but Ignacio plans to wrestle under the name Nacho and to wear a concealing mask -- just like his idol Ramses (real-life luchador Cesar Gonzalez), the reigning champion.

Nacho soon finds a tag-team partner in Esqueleto (Hector Jimenez), an impossibly skinny street fighter with bad teeth and worse social skills but Ignacio fares poorly as a macho luchador. Although he earns a tidy sum even when he loses. Sick and tired of Loosing matches one after the other he decides to quit wrestling and the monastery but as Fate would have it he is given one Last oppurtunity to wrestle against the world champion and his idol-- Ramses making the climax of the movie.

Now if you are not a Jack black fan...trust me , you are gonna become one after you watch this movie. I simply cannot think of anybody else who could have justified the role of Nacho other then the mighty jack black. Black's ability to temper wild-eyed excess with heartfelt sincerity keeps Ignacio endearing throughout. Even if you are not too excited about this movie its worth watching just for the performance of jack black. Black manages Mexican (Spanish) and Mexicans (as the masked luchadore Nacho) with comic ease and even manages to sneak in a hysterical vocal performance

Filmed entirely on location in Mexico, "Nacho Libre" showcases many local talents on either side of the cameras. Effectively low-key supporting perfs by Jimenez and de la Reguera are perfectly suited for pic in which nothing, not even a camel clutch or a body slam, ever is allowed to get too far out of hand.

The soundtrack of the film is Excellent. Trust me you are gonna enjoy every bit of it. It feels very cool n fresh to the ears. I was murmuring the title song even after hours of watching the film. The soundtrack fits perfectly to the theme of the film. Awesome is all i can say to describe it.

But most of all "Nacho Libre" is good, clean, honest fun. That, and the film manages to be oddly sweet throughout with Black ("'School of Rock," "Envy," "ShallowHal," and Pete Jackson's colossal "'Kong") in his element as a maligned man of the cloth turned masked man of spandex. It's silly in the extreme but so authentically so you can't help but raise a chuckle.

If, like me, you're partial to a nice nacho you'll likely enjoy Jack Black's cheesy--and occasionally flatulent--friar in "Nacho Libre."