Nacho Libre (**)

Nacho Libre, as the ads no doubt proclaim, is from the director of Napoleon Dynamite. And like that film, Nacho Libre boasts a lot of style and singular comedic moments. Where they differ, however, is in their central characters. Whereas Napoleon could sustain an entire movie on the strength of its title character, Nacho can barely make it through a half-hour. Nacho is a thin conceit of a character, and as played by the reliably overactive Jack Black in a silly Spanish accent, he can't really carry a full-length film on his shoulders. As the movie goes on, Black comes in and out of character, and by the end, he's singing and scatting like he's in Tenacious D. There are also a number of completely unnecessary (and random) fart noises inserted throughout that dumb down the whole thing. You may laugh once or twice at some of the jokes in Nacho Libre, but you won't feel good about yourself for doing so. It's almost as if you're willing yourself to laugh just to get your money's worth. In fact, the movie plays like a poor man's Wes Anderson flick. I hate to say it (because it's become too much of a cliche by now, unfortunately), but if you've seen the preview, you've seen all the good parts.