Clearly this setup has plenty of inherent comedy, and Jared Hess, who also directs, mostly makes it pay off. Once again his unique blend of awkward deadpan and over-the-top characterization produces major laughs as does, interestingly enough, a phenomenal soundtrack by Danny Elfman. Rarely has such cool music added so much to a screwball comedy.
Adult fans of Napoleon Dynamite might be disappointed to find that the movie relies on quite a bit of body-function humor, but it also delves into more advanced comedy than the earlier film. The Hesses are both devout Mormons, and they know how to find humor in religious faith without insulting religion. Says Nacho to Sister Encarnación in all earnestness, “The Brothers think I don't know a butt-load of crap about the Gospel, but I do...” The laughs come from recognizing our profane human way of thinking about sacred matters. The film also benefits from a spot-on supporting cast. Jimenez and de la Reguera fit into Hess’s world of naive oddballs perfectly. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for manic headliner Black.
Though it’s hard not to forgive him anything while he’s wearing his “stretchy pants,” Black is both the film’s strongest and weakest point. In several instances his strategically-arched eyebrow or quivering lip saves common fart jokes from devolving into schlock. But at other moments, he doesn’t seem able to fit himself into Hess’s style of comedy, which is dry, subtle and, above-all, character-driven.
Too often Jack Black the comedian overplays a moment that belongs solely to Nacho Libre the luchador. More than anything, this accounts for the film’s jarring sense of split personality in which scenes jump from showing us the quirky motivations and machinations of a man named Nacho to Black hamming it up in a straight sight gag approach.
But despite these few dry patches and inconsistencies, Nacho Libre wins us over with its innocence. Anyone can make audiences chuckle while pandering to our basest amusements, but it takes a special hombre of God to garner belly laughs from all ages while keeping it, relatively, clean.