American Funnymen, Mexican Pastiche

Nacho Libre (2006) and Casa de mi Padre (2012) share a Hollywood approximation to Mexico in which an American comic stars as a humble, big-hearted Mexican struggling to do the right thing. In Nacho Libre, Jack Black is a listless monk who aspires to help the orphans he serves by winning fame and fortune as a luchador, while in Casa de mi Padre, Will Ferrell is a dim-witted rancher who must defend his father's lands from the narco-fueled bad decisions of his older brother.

Nacho Libre--a Nickelodeon-funded kids' movie, after all--is the sweeter of the two films. The only violence to be found is in the overwrought theatrics of the lucha libre style wrestling. Goofy but melancholic tag-team sidekick Esqueleto (Héctor Jiménez) is the perfect foil for Black's earnestly ridiculous Nacho, making the pair of luchadores something like a fat Quixote (Nacho) with his skinny Sancho (Esqueleto). The unattainable Dulcinea of the film is Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera), a nun whom none can have yet all covet. Nacho's "dates" with Encarnación (dry toast, tight pants), and his outrageous song of dedication to her, are some of the funniest moments in the film. In the climax Nacho does manage to defeat his luchador nemesis, Ramses (César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón), and then celebrates by taking the orphans on a field trip--in a new bus--to Monte Albán. The soundtrack, with memorable and original contributions from Beck, Danny Elfman, and Black himself alongside classics from Mister Loco, Caetano Veloso and Eddie Santiago, is outstanding. There was talk of a follow-up, but I think ultimately the sequel was "outsourced" from Mexico to China: Kung Fu Panda (2008), in which another portly and comical Jack Black character overcomes the odds to excel in a physically demanding discipline.

In contrast, Casa de mi Padre is a jarringly and explicitly violent film, in spite of the ham-handed meta-cinematic production error jokes. Ferrell's film is all the more disturbing and acerbic, precisely because it's funny even though it has a serious message about the violence of drug trafficking. An offbeat love scene between Ferrell's Armando Alvarez and Armando's brother's fiancée Sonia (Génesis Rodríguez), featuring the absurdly prolonged squeezing of bare buttocks, is contrasted with the graphic violence of a ripped-from-the-headlines wedding party narco-massacre. Entre broma y broma, la verdad se asoma / Much truth is said in jest: the final dialogue, after a US federal agent turns on his corrupt boss to save Armando and Sonia, sums up the lesson with an exchange something like, "No todos los gringos son malos" / "No todos los mexicanos son narcotraficantes." The film features terrific performances by Diego Luna (Armando's brother Raúl), Gael García Bernal (narco kingpin "Onza"), and the late Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. (the Alvarez paterfamilias), as well as an original soundtrack with contributions from Ferrell and other cast members, and Cristina Aguilera. 

While Jack Black plays his character with a comic Mexican-accented English in the English-language Nacho Libre, Will Ferrell actually delivers his lines in Spanish alongside the rest of the Spanish-speaking cast of Casa de mi Padre. This makes the latter a subtitled film in the American market - a gamble the producers must have been willing to take based on Ferrell's fame and on the importance of Spanish-speaking audiences worldwide.

I find that the people who tend to appreciate these two films the most, are those who are familiar with both Mexican culture and United States culture. Especially the symbolically rich visual detail of Oaxaca and the nuanced musical references in Nacho Libre get lost on viewers unfamiliar with Mexican cultural expressions. Likewise for Casa de mi Padre it helps to have a visual and plot-based familiarity with Mexican telenovelas and classic films of the Epoca de Oro. Ultimately, both of these films are silly and self-conscious in their winking Mexican-ness, but all in good fun, and while simultaneously offering up lessons on humility and ethical courage.