Nacho Libre Advanced Screening

The Sal, my wife and I managed to get advanced screening tickets to the new Jack Black Mexican wrestling opus: "Nacho Libre" tonight. We got them from those guys that give out the free movie screening tickets outside of theater multiplexes. You know the guys, the ones that pester you to go see the latest Hollywood studio bullshit. This was a clear exception. I had seen the trailer for this movie, and from what I had seen . . . it seemed OK. Finally, a Jack Black movie that I could get excited about.

The day itself could not have provided the worst environment to standing in line. If you're in the Los Angeles area, then you know that it began raining today. Again. It sucked. But thankfully, we weren't in the rain for too long. We spent only about a half an hour out in the cold with a bunch of Hollywood hipsters who shook like little chihuahas in the rain.

We were ushered into a theater in the middle of the Paramount Studios off of Melrose and Gower. We got some decent seats not too close to the screen, and waited another half an hour for the movie to begin. At least we were out of the elements this time though. Soon enough, some dude ran up to the front and let us know that we were the first ever crowd to check out this rough cut of the movie. They informed us that some of the effects were not finished. The music was a temp track, and the color on some of the scenes were not fully coordinated yet. No problem we think. It's a free movie.

The movie starts and it's got all the quirky sensibilities that Napoleon Dynamite (same director) had mixed in with Jack Black's comic timing. The guy, when left up to his own devices, is a comic idiot savant. He nails the Mexican accent 50% of the time, the rest, it kind of crumbles on him . . . but you don't care. It's so funny seeing him interacting with Steven (Esqueleto) and the scenes with the orphans that you can forgive this minor flaw in the movie.

Now, this is a Nickelodeon Studios feature, but it's not extremely geared towards children. There is no swearing, no nudity, and only some high school'y romance overtones between Black and Ana de la Reguera's (a Penelope Cruz look-a-like) character. She plays a nun, which makes it funnier to see Nacho's advances towards her. And yes, he plays a friar . . . but it ends up with a happy ending that does not involve some Black on Nun sex.

The Mexican wrasslin' scenes are a hoot. Seeing all this Mexican-style Lucha Libre totally puts the American stuff to shame. There's just so much more show-manship to it. It's less drama and more acrobatics. I specially enjoyed the scene with the two devil midgets. Fantastic shit.

I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone . . . but you know that Good will always triumph over Evil . . . so make your own deductions. Is it worth paying your hard earned cash to see this? Abso-fuckin-lutely. If you enjoyed Napoleon Dynamite, then you'll get a kick out of this. Even "Pedro" is in it, in a friar-cameo role. For those with children . . . can you take your kids to see this when it comes out? Hell yes. Take them twice. Jack Black needs to make more of these kinds of movies. Movies that have him running around acting like an ass and not caring that the story is some rehashed crap. This will make you forget about that Orange County movie. Maybe, even erase Envy from your scarred psyche. Possibly not, but it will help you sleep at night.