Black holds nothing back in ‘Nacho Libre’

Jack Black made his move from supporting to leading roles by shamelessly letting his inner child run amok: He plays incorrigible goofballs. Combined with his infectious charm, Black’s characters are laughable yet likable. His character, Brother Ignacio, in the comedy “Nacho Libre” overflows with those two characteristics.

Like previous slap shtick comedians, Black turns the mundane into the preposterous. Everything imaginable is used to get laughs, from passing to gas to riding a weirdly assembled motorcycle to and from town.

Raised by friars in a south-of-the-border monastery, Ignacio is the cook for the resident orphans. He would rather be a wrestler in the local Lucho Libre fighting ring. Because it is considered a sin, however, wrestling is off limits to him. However, he has become smitten with the school’s newest teacher, Sister Encamacion.

Wanting to impress her, Ignacio figures wrestling is a real chick magnet. He whips up a masked costume intended to hide his true identity from the friars as well as intimidate his opponents in the ring. Then he takes the alias “Nacho.” The last element to be added to guarantee Nacho is like the other wrestlers is a partner. He enlists Esquelo, a gangly grown street urchin.

Although he loses every fight, the audience enjoys watching him. To his surprise, he gets paid to lose ? and asked to come back to lose more fights.

However, enjoying his new-found wealth quickly loses its appeal. Ignacio/Nacho comes to realize he can not be a true Lucho Libre or get Encamacion to notice him until his wins a wrestling match. Several cockamamie schemes are set in motion to make that happen.

What the comedy is about does not matter. Watching Jack Black perform is the prime reason for seeing the film.

The only scenes he doesn’t steal are the ones in which he doesn’t appear, which are few. A lot of his humor is anticipated. When one of the orphans complains about the food, the audience knows that within the next minute Black will be eating, then spitting that food out.

Such obvious jokes are there to warm up the audience and break down their resistance to Black’s goofiness.

He squeezes every potential laugh out of the nearest prop. For instance, just the way he sits and rides the beat-up motorcycle is funny. How he looks on the bike depends on his mood swings. Different mood swings reposition him on the bike ? and on one occasion actually chasing the bike.

The wrestling matches are the best. Like every other prop in the film, they’re milked until dry, from the costume to the opponents. Poking fun at himself is Black’s specialty, like when he prances around topless in blue tights and a goofy red and blue mask. There’s also a parade of unusual wrestlers, from giants to midgets, all able to easily defeat Nacho.

Nickelodeon’s “Nacho Libre” is geared for its target audience, not adults. However, it’s not a run-of-the mill comedy.

Written and directed by Jared Hess, who did Napoleon Dynamite, a few wild cards have been added. Ignacio’s crush on Sister Encamacion that’s reciprocated sends a mixed message about the church and romance. The movie is worth seeing and worth waiting for the DVD to come out.