JACK'S BACK!

I soooooo hated Jack Black in King Kong! His character in that film was real irritating as the camera basically kept showing his face in one surprised look after another; nothing really to display his enormous natural comic talents whatsoever.

This past weekend however, it was good to see Jack Black once again in great comic form in the very stupid but hilarious Nacho Libre. The film is very simple, full of quirky characters, and loaded with one dumb gag after another. If you liked the inane Napoleon Dynamite, this is your film, directed also by the same Jared Hess.

Filmed entirely in Oaxaca, Mexico with a solid mostly Mexican cast and a really cool soundtrack, Black shines in the film because he is allowed to make all kinds of ridiculous facial expressions, sing silly songs, show off his grotesque body, and speak with the dumbest Antonio Banderas accent ever. I would say that the audience I got to see the film with (which was made up of many Hispanics), really enjoyed the film, despite some possible insulting stereotypes. All in good fun though, and if it made me laugh, then so be it.

The movie is very appropriate for kids too, as it is very sweet and innocent in its overall message without any gratuitous violence or sex scenes which are so common in today's films. I found that aspect quite refreshing actually!

I first noticed Jack Black in the mediocre Orange County which he steals, and next in the tremendous School of Rock, which still stands as his greatest and truly starmaking performance.

And while admittedly, Nacho Libre is full of some flaws here and there and perhaps is really quite stupid and banal: it is worth the fun, the silliness, the absolute innocence and overall enjoyment it brought to me.

¡Viva Jack Black! ¡Viva Nacho Libre!