An odd little mash-up of genre farce and kid's movie infused by an indie sensibility, Jack Black's Mex-a-thon pleased my palate more than I ever expected it would, despite highlighting a variety of things that I can't stand (wrestling, fat people, Mexican accents). Shot in hyper-color teals, reds, and oranges (think William Eggleston), details of homes' and churches' interiors more than make up for the aesthetic travesty of Black's permed corkscrew Mexi-fro and distended white belly.
In this film, Jared Hess, who seems to be styling himself—at least so far as art direction is concerned—after Wes Anderson, elaborates on the best feature of (the dreadful wannabe indie cult film) Napoleon Dynamite: the unknown Mexican actor (in NP, it's Efren Ramirez as Pedro Sanche; in NL, Hector Jimenez as Esqueleto, along with an entire supporting cast of clergymen and orphans) characterized by a deadpan expression warmed with the addition of random expressive tics.
Despite my general affection for Jack Black, it is the supporting cast that makes this movie worth watching, since Black—as he does so often—slips in and out of his Nacho character and into "straight" (as if there was such a thing) Jack Black (think: Tenacious D), this time to the detriment of his performance (in other, straighter, films (The Holiday) this slippage rescues his performance from death by banality).
Ultimately, it's a feel-good movie that stays true to the Nickelodeon logo pasted onto the opening credits, but it recalls, to its credit, the Nick that brought you The Adventures of Pete and Pete, not the Nick that brought you Rugrats (not that I didn't like Rugrats): gross and silly, yes, but also arty, quixotic, and zesty.
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