nacho libre

This weekend's DVD was Nacho Libre.

It's a bit long-winded to explain, but is actually kinda simple, so bear with me. It's got Jack Black in it as the titular character, Nacho, and is directed by the guy who did Napoleon Dynamite, Jerad Hess.

It's set in Mexico and the plot is basically that Nacho is an orphan who was raised in a monastery by Catholic monks. He's also a big fan of wrestling. Now that isn't wrestling as in proper wrestling like they do at the Olympics or the WWF type American wrestling (which actually developed from this sort of wrestling).

It's sort of the mid-point between those two - it's got slightly cheaper production values than the American wrestling, but still maintains a bit of the reality of real wrestling. However, it does have the whole pantomime aspects to it.

Basically, when I was a kid they used to have the same sort of stuff on Saturday morning TV, with characters like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. Only it's a bit more flamboyant than that.

Anyway, so Nacho wants to be a wrestler, but the monks are opposed to it (quite why is a bit vague). But Nacho is also the monastery's cook and is committed to the Orphans the monastery looks after, so he can't just leave.

Also, a love interest is kinda tacked on.... I'm not really selling this very well, am I? Well there's a reason for that - I didn't really enjoy it that much :(.

I'm a big fan of Jack Black, and he's basically the reason I thought I'd take a look, but really this isn't a JB movie, it's a Jerad Hess movie.

I really want to like Hess's stuff. I try really hard. I watched Napoleon twice to see if I would get it more on the second viewing, but I just didn't.

I don't know if you've ever heard the term, but there's a language to cinema. It's a way of doing things that we've all grown so used to that it only becomes apparent when it's broken. Like, for example, if you show two characters talking but using individual close-ups, generally you have one of them on the left hand side of the screen and the other on the right. However, it's only if this isn't done that you would realise it was a convention.

Well, comedy also has rules, like gaps left for people to laugh. Well, when I watch Hess's stuff I notice those gaps, but I don't really see the joke. It's like he's saying the punch line to a gag, but I don't even realise that that was the punch line. I just don't get it.

I mean, it's not totally bereft of funny stuff, but then it's equally got things that I just don't get. And worse, it often feels like they're trying way too hard.

*sigh*

Unfortunately, the things that could have carried the film even though the comedy isn't to my taste are also lacking. There are lots of plot holes and lots of stuff goes nowhere. I'm all for breaking standard dramatic structures, but it's just annoying when stuff goes nowhere.

For example, the love interest thing just never really happens. There's also no indication as to what happens to Nacho's partner after a certain point, or, indeed, any of the other characters. Also, the biggest crime is that there's this whole segment in the middle about this Gypsy king that is just utterly pointless (the deleted scenes feature a whopping 8 minutes of scenes that were excised from this part, clearly showing they realised it was beyond pointless too).

Anyway, the DVD itself is quite good. After the last few rental DVDs having absolutely no extras it was nice to see this had plenty - featurettes and stuff. Though I have to say the commentary track just isn't worth the space on the DVD, which was annoying as I like a good commentary.