2 posts tagged “film”
I saw Nacho Libre again tonight.
This marks the second time for me to see the movie in the theatre since Saturday, and to me, it gets even funnier with repeated viewings. I knew what was coming, but I was able to catch a lot of tiny things that I missed the first time around. It's a lot like Napoleon Dynamite in that way; I thought ND was incredibly dumb the first time I saw it, but I've seen it about fifty times now I and laugh even harder now than I did the first time I started to "get it".
This is one of those "quotable" movies that have become all the rage in recent years. I think that trend started with Anchorman, which is one of my top three favorite comedies of all time. Stuff like "your mom goes to college" and "I think you ripped off my neck mole" are only going to be funny to a certain crowd, and I'm definitely part of that crowd. I can imagine that you'll hear me saying "they think I don't know a buttload about the gospel and stuff" quite often in the near future.
Jack Black has really come into his own as comic leading man. Of course, I'm biased, since High Fidelity is my all-time favorite movie and it was Jack's first turn in a film. If you haven't seen High Fidelity, then I can't talk to you. It's kind of a prerequisite for being my friend. It'll also perfectly explain who I am, since I'm a huge music snob and I can relate more to the characters in that flick than I can in just about any other movie.
What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?
Nacho Libre is one of those movies that few people are going to like, but some people will love them no matter what the critics say. I usually pay attention to sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, because generally the consensus of a bunch of reviewers thrown together is a good barometer as to whether or not I'll enjoy a movie.
Nacho is different. From the moment I saw the poster, I thought "man, Jack Black as a lucha libre grappler? You can't go wrong there." Without question, I don't think there's been a Jack Black movie that I've hated, and I even enjoyed his role in King Kong. There's something about his odd facial expressions and quirky dance/jig movements that never fail to crack me up. My favorite Black film was and probably always will be High Fidelity, but Nacho is going to end up being right up there.
Now, it's not a classic movie by any means of the imagination. It's stupid and geared towards kids for the most part, but to me, it's just as good, if not better, than Napoleon Dynamite. It has the same mannerisms, the same treatment of characters, and the same non-sensical humor that will only strike a small percentage of viewers as funny. I'm one of those in that small percentage. So were the rest of the people in the packed theater I saw it in last night; the place was so full that folks were sitting on the floor, and the entire theater laughed throughout the whole movie.
If you enjoyed Napoleon Dynamite, you'll enjoy this movie. Don't go seeing it expecting your typical Jack Black film, and you'll walk away having laughed. A lot. A lot of people apparently feel the same way I do, as the movie is expected to gross roughly $30 million this weekend and knock Cars off the top spot.
Nachoooooooooo.
