“Nacho Libre’ succeeds in odd, erratic fashion

“Because the entire cast of Nacho Libre besides Black is Latino, the red flags about cultural insensitivity have already been raised in some online quarters. But while there’s a great deal of visual exaggeration and comic excess, it’s clear Black and Hess do value, admire and respect the events and communities they’re spotlighting. The Catholic Church is treated with considerable dignity most of the time, and while there are certainly some jokes, there’s never any question Black’s character really cares about the orphans. The same holds true for the wrestling environment, despite the abundance of frenetic exchanges, leaps, holds and moves graphically presented. While there’s always plenty of absurd action, there’s also care taken to carefully frame the theatrical flair of the performers, plus the energy and electricity in the audience.

Not that anyone should view Nacho Libre as a documentary. Black is definitely playing this one for big laughs all the way. While still nowhere as compelling thematically as School of Rock nor as well written or acted as his role in High Fidelity, Jack Black is still’s effective and credible, if sometimes erratic, in Nacho Libre.”

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