All hail Jack Black

Before anyone anywhere passes judgment on "Nacho Libre," they would do well to keep in mind that it was co-produced by Nickelodeon. That means it's for kids. I'm well aware.\nAlright. Every once in a while, an actor comes around who can singularly take a shitty movie and carry it through on his back. Jack Black is one of those actors.\n"Nacho Libre" is the man's latest vehicle, and it isn't very good. But Black is, and therefore it isn't a complete waste of time to those of us who aren't over 12. Kind of like when you'd get a Superball in the bottom of a box of Cheerios. The cereal is bland and tasteless, but damn it if that ball ain't but fun!\nSee, "Nacho Libre" would be the box of Cheerios. And that would make Black the superball.\nAre you following me?\nThe film is written by the married Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by the former. They didn't fight very hard to distance themselves from their absurd and polarizing "Napoleon Dynamite," a film that followed a socially and physically awkward teenager through a couple weeks at high school. The plot didn't matter very much, but the character did. Matter of fact, that movie was all character. "Napoleon Dynamite" is nothing without Napoleon.\nThat same truth holds true for "Nacho Libre." I could tell you what happens in its 90 minutes, but I'd just be burning space. So to be blunt: Black plays the titular Nacho, a monk in a Mexican monastery and orphanage who hides a lifelong love of luchadores. In order to score more bank for the monastery's groceries, he starts entering into amateur wrestling matches for prize money. And that gives us more than enough time to watch Black make an ass out of himself in light-blue spandex.\nBlack has absolutely no qualms about displaying his plus-sized body prominently. He prances, soars, rolls, farts and sports the sickest perm I've ever seen, and children -- remember the audience here -- will love him for it. Like a clown at a six-year-old's birthday party, he's fascinating, slightly unnerving and nearly impossible to dislike.\nHowever, that isn't to say that "Nacho" doesn't have its problems. The film could also be described as a feature-length riff on Dynamite's Pedro character; sleepy-eyed Latinos in absurd situations. You're laughing at the accents and their bean jokes and the backwater naivety, and for a second it might cross your mind what exactly you're laughing at. But what is occurring is so obviously good-natured that it'll erase any doubt. The movie isn't so much about Mexican luchadores as it is about Jack Black and his presence. The man himself is the event.\nSo please, before you go and see "Nacho Libre" and get pissed that it meanders, or isn't witty or sarcastic or bitter or making a statement, remember that the grade-schooler in the seat next to you thought it was hilarious. That's an accomplishment in itself. Jack Black for president.