Nacho Libre
So today I was lying on the couch debating whether to eat some mint chocolate chip ice cream or nap on the couch when I saw a commercial for Nacho Libre. For whatever reason since they started promoting this movie I've felt an undercurrent of 'avoid this crap at all costs'. It smelt of cart-before-the-horsey in the same 'funny' world as Life Aquatic. One of those movies where all the pieces are in place (great idea, big funny actor, wacked slice of life, zany marination) and boom! you got yourself an hysterical movie. Right? Except that twenty minutes in they forget what was really funny about the 'great idea' in the first place and get caught up in avoiding the fact that they have no great ideas about what to do with the great idea except keep reminding us what a great idea it is and how talented they all are because they think of such great ideas..
I'm happy to say I was completely caught off guard by this movie! It wasn't what I expected at all. First off, I was blindsided by the fact that Nacho Libre is played by Al Gore! AND the movie has no wrestling whatsoever! The previews are totally misleading! This movie isn't about wrestling! It's a big global warming fancy slideshow presentation! The whole time I'm sitting there staring at this thing I'm waiting for some fat guy to leap down from the bleachers in blue tights and a mask yelling 'Arribe!' and klonk Nacho on the head or hit him with a chair or something. But it doesn't happen. Nothing even close to that happens! WTF!? And who had the bright idea to cast Al Gore in a wrestling movie anyway? No wonder it was all sciencey! Duh! No wonder there was no wrestling!
So I sat there with my arms folded and listened to Nacho talk about how we're all super totally f**ked with global warming if we don't change our ways. If you were like me-- you mildly worried about global warming but just chalked it it up to 'yet another thing to worry about' and your knowledge of global warming was like, Umm... it's like radiation pollution kind of going up into the atmosphere and making icebergs melt and the polar bears are screwed and then hurricanes come because the water is warm? Bad? Or something? Whatever? Unfortunately Nacho convinced me 100% that this issue is really real. And really real really bad. He just hammers facts in over and over and over again. I am no longer with my feet dangling in the water of the global warming pool. Nacho shoved me in. He's a hero. If you care about kids you should probably see this movie.
Unfortunately (besides the fact that this movie was a total misleading ripoff. Not even one scene in Mexico!) I learned that America is above everyone as the worst planetary offender. Nacho told me things like, US cars don't pass emission standards.... in China. We can't sell cars in China if we wanted to! Because they're too gross! Stuff like that. Ew! I figured once America was accused of being the worst of the worst finally some guy dressed in red, white, and blue tights would finally jump out and give Nacho the business. Grab Nacho and pick him up and spin him around over their head and throw him into the first row. But no one did. No challengers to this mess. I guess it's hard to spin a guy who is telling the truth and has absolutely nothing to lose...umm... except the whole world.... ummm... again.
Three Good Things About This Movie
- It was simple enough that even us dopes could grasp the science stuff.
- Although it was hardcore lecturey it wasn't boring. Like one of those classes
where you actually paid attention because the teacher was good and passionate.
- Half-way through the movie Nacho said, 'Who's bored?' And half the people in
the lecture hall raised their hands. So he brought out cheerleaders and they did
a global warming cheer and then did a pyramid facing away from the
audience.
Three Bad Things About This Movie
- They could have dialed the 'green' factor down a notch and cranked up some
good old-fashioned panic.
- Too much Nacho not enough shots of storms, deserts, and glaciers.
- If there was more wrestling and less lecturing maybe some kids would want to
see this. It felt too much like school.
All in all I'd say Nacho Libre is a very important film that just feels a little light. Although I am now convinced that global warming is the most serious issue going now it still didn't bubble me up on a gut level. Only an intellectual (pseudo in my case) level. When push comes to shove, if Nacho mixed in science with finger pointing accusations at the worst polluters maybe it would have had more impact- because the whole thing lacked anger. But I guess that would have been politically incorrect. And I think Nacho knows that if he realistically wants to have an earth changing impact on this issue-- he's gonna need to step into the ring again. And from the look of things he thankfully seems to be in training...