Nacho Libre Photo

Nacho Libre

Starring: Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera, Hector Jimenez, Richard Montoya, Peter Stormare

Directed by: Jared Hess

RS: 2of 4 Stars

2006 Paramount Pictures Comedy

Jack Black, filled to bursting with comic helium, tries his damndest to keep this fitfully funny farce airborne. It's a losing battle, but you have to admire an actor who is willing to use everything from indecent exposure to an outrageous Mexican accent to get a laugh. Black plays Brother Ignacio, a monk-in-training at the Mexican orphange where he works as a cook and harbors a secret desire. Yes, he wants to make it with Sister Encarnacion (Ana de la Reguera). But even more he wants to make it in the lucha libre ring, where he can wrestle, wear a mask, expose his flab and win money to feed orphans with the help of his pal Esqueleto (Hector Jimenez). Director Jared Hess, who wrote the script with his wife Jerusha and School of Rock's Mike White, recycles his far superior Naploeon Dynamite with a notable lack of shame. And what's up with the fart joke overload? This Nacho leaves your palate longing for more spice and less rancid cheese.