Nacho comes with lots of cheese

I am embarrassed to recommend “Nacho Libre” to anyone in the local community. We are an invisible part of Hollywood. People here know filmmaking and love movies, but are ? generally speaking ? a community of families, mostly relatively conservative thinkers.

So why would anyone who reads our newspapers want to see this movie? It’s gross. It is rough in almost every way generally used to assess movie making. It will offend some, including those who take their religion or their ethnicity or their nationality, or even the art of filmmaking, seriously.

“Nacho Libre” is more than the story of a monk who wants to earn enough money to feed the orphans in his care. It is about a man who needs to follow his dream ? in this case a dream of finding fame and fortune by being a luchadore, a south-of-the-border sport worse than bullfighting (by far) or cockfighting (by only a bit). It is satirically played by Jack Black, an actor who has a talent for overstatement ? and, having said that, manages to save the movie by portraying the monk with self-deprecating humor that makes it ? well, acceptable. For some.

What many reviewers seem to miss is that this is satire. Its niche market (fans of the rough directorial and screenwriting skills of Jared Hess and people who saw “Napoleon Dynamite” four times and memorized the awful dialogue) will love this. Those might include people between 9 and 14, perhaps, and adults who have retained their child within.

Hess’s forte is finding new talent appropriate for the story and setting. A beautiful new actor (to Americans) is Ana de la Reguera, who is given no chance to play anything other than innocence and bewilderment. Hector Jiménez, Black’s wrestling sidekick, manages to portray his character ? gruesome teeth, over-the-top leer and all ? with some sensitivity. And then there is Troy Gentile, the wannabe Jack Black, who does a fine job of being a child in need of a role model. The soundtrack, too, is both arresting and tons of fun.

“Nacho Libre” is rated PG so it does not cross the line in areas that those ratings consider important (like some four-letter words) but the emphasis should be on the G. That’s guidance, folks. This yucky but funny flick could be an opportunity for parents to talk to their kids about tolerance and about not taking things so seriously when we grow up that we miss what once made us laugh.