~Jack Black has risen among the ranks ~. Review on Nacho Libre Movie

Dir: Jared Hess.

Cast: Jack Black, Ferran Rane, Hector Jimenez, Ana De La Reguera.

Just the slightest glimpse of a School Of Rock trailer on Sky Movies puts a smile on my face. For me, funnyman Jack Black is the new John Belushi - a one-man laughter machine whose talents demand to be seen by all fans of comedy.

Jack Black is one of those increasingly rare Hollywood movie stars whose eyes, wide and saucer-like as they are, are not bigger than his belly. It's clear the whole slimming/diet/gym thing that's swept through his profession has simply passed him by. Not that it has made a negative impact on his career. It did little to stop him getting cast as the love interest to Gwyneth Paltrow (Shallow Hal); as the non-CG lead in a Hollywood blockbuster (King Kong); or from playing a death row killer's sibling in an Oscar-feted drama (Dead Man Walking).

Sporting a Kevin Keegan perm, handlebar moustache and a fetching pair of spray-on nylons, Black is a riot here. Black provides chuckles as a poor monk seduced by glory (a Mexican monk on a mission from God), but it happens in a sun-parched world of indie quirkiness. With food short at the local orphanage, he tries to fulfill his dream of becoming a legend in Mexican "Lucha Libre" free-style wrestling by fighting to save a rag-tag bunch of orphans and win the heart of Sister Encarnacion (Ana De La Reguera).

Comedy concepts don't come much funnier than Jack Black in a leotard (one look at him in full spandex will manage to reveal both his religion and breakfast choice in a single spin), and Nacho Libre will no doubt sell plenty of tickets on that basis alone.

The movie is loosely based on the story of Fray Tormenta, aka Frair Storm, whose career as a moonlighting luchadore spanned more than 23 years and 4,000 bouts. His alt-career began as a way of raising food for the orphans in his care, and the luchadore mask - gaudy, tight and not unlike that of a Marvel Superhero on a shoestring - allowed him to conceal his identity while indulging in his ungodly alter ego. So the story goes...

The man behind Nacho Libre is director Jared Hess, whose last film was the altogether weird Napolean Dynamite. He seems ill-at-ease helming a light romp like this, and his languorous shooting style only serves to stretch the gaps between laughs. But this is a strange, stitched-together movie, half traditional gross-out, half Gen-X slacker. It is much less conventional than your usual mainstream fare comedy.

Nacho Libre veers uneasily between sentiment and a startling meaness. The effect is the little patronising. You get the impression the director thinks this knockabout stuff is beneath him. Musician, teacher, impresario, wrestler? Jack's talents know no bounds.

Personally I loved it, but be warned - this is one Mexican dish that may not be to everybody's taste.