Nacho Libre

Nacho Libre
Nacho Libre movie poster
Directed by	Jared Hess
Written by	Jared Hess Jerusha Hess Mike White
Produced by	Jack Black David Klawans Julia Pistor Mike White
Starring	Jack Black
Music by	Beck Danny Elfman
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	June 16, 2006
Running time	100 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$25 million

Nacho Libre is an American comedy film that was released on June 16, 2006 by Paramount Pictures, though it was released in select theaters earlier. The script is written by Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess, and Mike White. The producers are Jack Black, David Klawans, Julia Pistor, and Mike White. The musical score is composed by Danny Elfman, who succeeded prior composer Beck, who left the project. The date was originally set to be May 2006, but was changed by Paramount to avoid competition from X-Men: The Last Stand and Mission Impossible III. It was then placed between the releases of Disney/Pixar's Cars (June 9) and Warner's Superman Returns (June 28). The film was rated PG by the MPAA for "Rough Action and Crude Humor, Including Dialogue".

Plot

Template:Spoiler Nacho (Jack Black) is a holy man without skills. After growing up an orphan in a Mexican monastery, he is now a grown man and the monastery’s cook, but doesn’t fit in and is often looked down upon. Nacho cares deeply for the orphans he feeds, but his food is terrible – mostly, if you ask him, a result of his terrible ingredients. He realizes he must hatch a plan to make money to buy better food for “the young orphans, who have nothing” (…and if in doing so Nacho can impress the lovely Sister Encarnación, that would be a big plus).

When Nacho is struck by the idea to earn money as a Lucha Libre wrestler, he finds that he has a natural, raw talent for wrestling. As he teams with his rail-thin, unconventional partner, Esqueleto (the Skeleton), Nacho feels for the first time in his life that he has something to fight for and a place where he belongs.

As Lucha is strictly forbidden by the church elders at the monastery, Nacho is forced to lead a double life. Disguised by a sky blue mask, Nacho conceals his true identity as he takes on Mexico’s most famous wrestlers and takes on a comedic quest to make life a little sweeter at the orphanage.

Podcast

During the filming, Jack Black began doing a promo video podcast called Jack Black's Nacho Libre Confessional. In every episode, Jack is filmed with a hand-held camera inside his trailer. He introduces the viewer to the cast and set, and gives a brief description of what he has been up to.

Each episode of the podcast begins and ends with an intro/outro featuring Beck's song "E-Pro" from the album Guero. This is likely a reference to the fact that Nacho is himself a guero or "white boy" due to his half-Scandinavian heritage, as explained by Jack whilst having his chest waxed in Episode 3 of the podcast.

Main cast

• Jack Black as Ignacio (Nacho Libre)
• Ana de la Reguera as Sister Encarnación
• Héctor Jiménez as Esqueleto
• Troy Gentile as Nacho (young age)
• Carla Jiménez as Cándida
• Richard Montoya as Guillermo
• César González as Ramses

Reviews and Reaction

Reviews of the film were generally mixed. Roger Ebert said that it was a "Jack Black comedy that doesn't work. It's hard to do, but Nacho Libre does it.".

However, the Hollywood Reporter was very positive about it, calling it "one of the most inspired comedies in ages".

Sort of in the middle, Michael Medved gave the film 2 and a half stars (out of four) calling it "..amusing, but resistable.." and adding that "..director Jared Hess [employs] the same off-beat humor that made his Napoleon Dynamite a cult hit."[1]

The film currently has a "rotten" 38% rating at RottenTomatoes (as of June 18, 2006).

The audience response was largely positive, with the film debuting at #2, behind Cars, on its opening weekend in the U.S. Nacho Libre earned more than $27.5 million.

Working with WWE?

File:Da-big-nacho.jpg

Jack Black in a scene of the film.

Before the release of the movie World Wrestling Entertainment added Ignacio A.K.A. Nacho to the SmackDown! brand roster on their website. Whether this is simply promotion for the movie or if Jack Black will be making an appearance on the show remains to be announced or seen. The profile can be viewed here.

Also at ECW One Night Stand, a pay-per-view run by the WWE, fans chanted "Nacho Libre" towards Mexican wrestler Super Crazy.

Also at the June 20th edition on ECW nacho libre came to the ring saying "OH YEAH" like randy MACHO MAN Savage and sounding just like him.

Trivia

• Fray Tormenta is a real life Mexican Priest who had a 23-year-long career in lucha libre.
• Jack Black trained with a real Luchador prior to filming.
• Many fans of Jared Hess's film Napoleon Dynamite have called Nacho Libre "Napoleon Dynamite + Lucha Libre", or a "Spanish Napoleon Dynamite". Incidentally, Paramount Pictures, the distributors of Nacho Libre, released Napoleon Dynamite outside the US.
• Lucha Libre - wrestling is more accurately translated as free fighting. Libre meaning freedom (from the Latin libris which English derived into the word liberty). In a way the title may be called Free Nacho.
• This film was released in theaters on the same day as Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, The Lake House, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
• There are a number similarites between this film and Jack Black's previous film for Paramount Pictures, School of Rock, such as Jack Black's character tending to a group of kids. Incidentally, both films have the same writer.
• The film's "theme song", played during the opening credits and several times thereafter, is "Religious Man", written and recorded in 1975 by the Mexican band Mister Loco.

External links

• The official web site
• The official web site at Nick.com
• Nacho Libre at IMDb
• Nacho Libre at Paramount Pictures
• "Nacho Libre" (Apple Quicktime Trailers)
• Nacho Libre at Rotten Tomatoes
• "Nacho Libre Comic Book"