sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

June 19, 2006


thumbs down
posted by soe 10:56 am

Sam and Alexis have been in town and we wrapped up a fun weekend with a trip to see Nacho Libre last night. It was by the guy who did Napoleon Dynamite, which I loved, and it looked like it could be fun in that same kind of quirky way.

Alas, it was not to be. Jack Black (who plays a semi-priest-cum-Mexican wrestler with heart) cannot get beyond playing … Jack Black. He’d manage for a little while and then there would be a moment where he could either stay in character or revert to himself and never did he opt for sticking with the character. He gets that look that I see on the faces of precocious little kids who know they’re doing something cute (and often slightly wrong). It’s obvious that he thinks he’s very funny.

He was good in School of Rock, where he played himself. He was fine in High Fidelity, where he also didn’t need to stretch his acting abilities. Rudi tells me that he was convincingly someone else in King Kong, but I wouldn’t be able to confirm that because it wasn’t the sort of movie that appealed to me.

The guy who played Esqueleto, Nacho’s sidekick, was funny, but he was a Pedro redux from Napoleon days. And the kids were cute and convincing playing … kids.

But this movie is really about “just Jack” and Jack is just too much for me to want to take in large doses. This movie gave me about 45 minutes too much.

Unless you really like Jack Black, I’d suggest saving your tens and seeing The Heart of the Game instead.

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