- - -

Review by David DiMichele

- - -

"Only but good intentions, only but good things," I kept trying to tell myself. But there I was watching a neighborhood that was increasingly fraught with an alarmingly amount of cheesiness and fakeness. Show me a town of people who all have the most sincere of hearts (even the thugs do) and a town that is still captivated by the dinosaur we call VHS, and I'll bow to your every command. That's the issue with "Be Kind Rewind." There really isn't a town like this in all of America. Surprisingly Michel Gondry, the gifted filmmaker of the classic "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," does his best to disguise this town as a bunch of Mother Theresa's, and at times it almost seems as if it is the kind of neighborhood we were accustomed to when we were young.

A hard job to do if you're Gondry but an even harder job is to watch Jack Black going over-the-top yet again as Jerry, the obnoxious friend of Mike (Mos Def). The two are on screen for almost the entire movie and Black wears out his welcome long before the movie begins to pick up. He tries with all his might to act while the ever-so-talented Mos Def plays every scene with an easy going and cool attitude. He has the pleasure of running Mr. Fletcher's (Danny Glover) "gold mine" VHS store called Be Kind Rewind, where for a dollar a day you can rent any VHS you want. Sounds so tempting! Fletcher, who doesn't want to make the jump to DVD movies, leaves due to a commemoration of the famous jazz musician Fats Waller, who died in 1943.

Also on Fletcher's mind is his store that is soon to be condemned and will come face to face with a wrecking ball. He trusts Mike not only to run the store but to keep Jerry out of it as well. Mos Def is perfectly cast as he looks and acts the part of a man who you would expect to see working at your local video rental store. Delivering every line with crispness and subtlety, he is just the antidote we need offset Jack Black's monotonous character.

The first 25 minutes of the movie showcases Black's horrid performance, along with a "last resort" set-up scene to get to the movie's main plotline. Jerry wants to sabotage the local power plant for some odd reason and this leads him getting severely electrocuted in a horrible special effects scene. He then walks around with strong currents flowing through his body and being attracted to all sorts of metal objects around him. But ultimately it leads to him erasing all of Be Kind Rewind's VHS tapes. We realize that it's only fitting to go through almost a half hour of boredom to gain a fun and inventive plot.

The two now have to make their own films any time a customer wants something. "Ghostbusters" is their first project. Since the customer has no clue what the movie is about, they decide to re-enact parts of the movie using a video camera. This leads to "Rush Hour 2" and "Driving Miss Daisy." Of course their versions are horrible looking but at times they're funny. Remember that we're in town filled with Mother Theresa's. I would have liked to see more about the movies being made. Instead Gondry takes the easy way out and uses a quick montage of the two and their partner (the charming Melonie Diaz) recreating classics such as "2001: Space Odyssey," "King Kong" and "Men in Black."

"Be Kind Rewind" exploits the fact that no matter who you are or what you do, everybody is influenced by the power of motion picture. Movies bring together people for the better and this movie knows that and showcases it in the weirdest, sincerest and cheesiest kind of ways.

Film Rating: ** 1/2 out of 4

[ Officla Movie site ]

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email This

Hits: 554

Comments (1)

Rated R???

This movie is rated R??? Up here in Canada, it's rated PG. There's only one sexual reference and the rest of the movie is clean.

I was extremely surprised when I saw the screening of Be Kind, Rewind as I thought it was going to be a stupid boring movie that was trying to act as a comedy, but in the end, I found it to be hilarious!

Jean , March 18, 2008 | url

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

Add Comment Preview