Nacho Libre parents guide

Nacho Libre Parent Guide

Overall B-

Jack Black plays a pudgy monk in a poor Latin American monastery who cooks for orphans. Knowing he needs better ingredients to help the homeless children, he takes on the name of Nacho Libre, dons a pair of stretchy pants and a ski mask, and then enters a local wrestling ring to earn some money.

Release date June 15, 2006

Violence C+
Sexual Content B+
Profanity B
Substance Use A-

Why is Nacho Libre rated PG? The MPAA rated Nacho Libre PG for some rough action, and crude humor including dialogue.

Parent Movie Review

It’s time for Director/Writer Jared Hess to prove he has what it takes to pull off another oddball movie sensation. After the wild popularity of his low budget film, Napoleon Dynamite, Hess is going south of the border to bring audiences a quirky comedy about Mexican wrestling. If he succeeds, he may end up bringing the same recognition to free-style fighting that he did to small town high schools.

Hess and his wife Jerusha have crafted a story about a pudgy monk in a poor Latin American monastery. Without any other skills to his credit, Nacho (Jack Black) is forced to cook for the orphans who live in the church building. But his food is horrible. Knowing he needs better ingredients to work with, Nacho furtively dons a pair of borrowed stretchy pants and ski mask and enters the local wrestling ring to earn some money.

Although the initial success of Nacho and his skinny fighting companion Esqueleto (Hector Jimenez) is questionable, the kitchen worker discovers he has an indisputable passion for life on the mat. With the help of Esqueleto’s sewing skills, the aspiring luchadores steal the needed materials, design their own signature costumes and head back to the ropes for more.

However, the priests sternly frown upon Lucha libre (a Mexican form of professional wrestling) so Nacho must maintain his secret identity from everyone in the church including the orphans and the beautiful Sister Encarnacion (Ana de la Reguera).

Like Hess’s previous film, the humor is unconventional and out of step. At times, the script stutters and almost stalls (like the retrofitted motorcycle Nacho rides around town) becoming merely a showcase for Black’s over-the-top antics. Yet between the one-liners and gag-type jokes, the storyline has some redeeming moments.

For younger viewers, the film contains plenty of wrestling violence with characters being hit, kicked, jumped on and conked with chairs. During a street confrontation, a man is pierced in the eye with a cob of corn and another is punched in the nose. Later, a monk’s robe starts on fire and he runs from the chapel engulfed in flames. As well, the screenplay uses scatological slang, flatulence and some crude comments and antics for comedy (including one man who is smeared in the face with fresh cow manure). Although much of the action takes place in a monastery, there is often casual treatment of religious themes and an unorthodox portrayal of baptism.

While Nacho’s occasional ungodly yearning for worldly applause (and his obsession with body hugging fabrics) may not be in harmony with the tenets of his religious duties, the much maligned kitchen help proves his heart is in the right place when it comes to providing a better life for the orphans in the monastery.

Theatrical release June 15, 2006. Updated

Nacho Libre
Rating & Content Info

Why is Nacho Libre rated PG? Nacho Libre is rated PG by the MPAA for some rough action, and crude humor including dialogue.

Even as a child Nacho dreamed of life as a luchador, stealing materials such as a string of rosary beads, to make a costume. As an adult, he hides his secret life as a lucha fighter by lying to the other priests and swearing one orphan to secrecy. In preparation for their fight, Nacho and his partner inflict pain on themselves by shooting one another with arrows, jumping on or throwing things at each other, going into a ring with an angry bull and one of them even gets cow manure smeared on his face. Nacho has a habit of passing gas and several scenes take place in a bathroom with moderate amounts of potty humor involved. The script relies on other crude antics and comments for humor as well. Once he is outfitted in skin-tight pants, Nacho tries to impress the nun by flexing his buttock muscles and drawing attention to his body. Some partially exposed buttocks are seen at one point. In the ring, the fighters repeatedly kick, hit, toss and slap one another. One man’s hair is pulled out and another is hit with a chair. Later a man has his foot run over and one character is punched in the nose. During a religious ceremony a man’s robe starts on fire and he is engulfed in flames. Some mildly sexual comments are also made. For some viewers, the casual treatment of religious themes (such as baptism and discussions of Deity) and religious objects may also be a concern.

Page last updated

Nacho Libre Parents' Guide

What motivates Nacho to go to the ring? Why does he choose Esqueleto as his partner? What things does he willingly sacrifice for others?

Why does Nacho feel compassion for the orphans? How does he become their hero?

Learn more about luchadores at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucha_libre

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Nacho Libre movie is October 23, 2006. Here are some details…

DVD Release Date: 24 October 2006

Nacho Libre steps into the home entertainment ring in either a wide or full screen Collectors Edition DVD. Both versions offer the following bonus extras: an audio commentary by actor Jack Black, and writers Jared Hess and Mike White, deleted scenes, and two featurettes (Behind-the-Scenes and Jack Sings!). The disc also comes with a Nacho Libre comic book and luchador mask creator.

Related home video titles:

In Napoleon Dynamite an outcast high school student finds friends and learns to showcase his own unique skills for the whole student body. Jack Black stars as an unsuccessful musician who poses as a schoolteacher and gives his students an unconventional education in The School of Rock.

Related news about Nacho Libre

Netflix Says Bye-Bye to Nacho Libre and Others on February 1

Netflix Says Bye-Bye to Nacho Libre and Others on February 1

{parents:pull_quote}