ABOUT: Be Kind Rewind is a 2008 American comedy film from New Line Cinema, directed by Michel Gondry and starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover and Mia Farrow.
The title is a reference to a phrase commonly displayed on VHS rental tapes during the medium's heyday.
When a bumbling movie lover becomes magnetized while attempting to sabotage a local power plant and accidentally erases all of the videotapes in the small video store where his best friend works, the pair attempt to keep the store's loyal customer base by remaking as many of the top-renting movies as possible.
Mike (Mos Def) is an employee at Be Kind Rewind, a modest mom and pop video store that is owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). Mike's best friend Jerry (Jack Black) works in an auto garage/junkyard directly adjacent to a local power plant. Lately Jerry has become increasingly paranoid about the effects that the power plant is having on his health. Convinced that he has developed a brain tumor from working in such close proximity to the power plant, Jerry attempts to sabotage the plant. Unfortunately for Jerry, his brain is magnetized in the process. The next time Jerry goes to visit Mike at Be Kind Rewind, the powerful magnetization emanating from his brain erases every videotape in the store.
Now the only way for Mike and Jerry to be sure that Be Kind Rewind stays in business is to remake every film on the shelves before the customers notice. But when word gets out that Mike and Jerry have remade such Hollywood classics as Back to the Future, Robocop, The Lion King, and Rush Hour without permission, the store is threatened with copyright violations and forced to close its doors. In the aftermath of the closing, Mr. Fletcher and his employees discover just how loyal their customers really are when the entire neighborhood pools their resources to transform the junkyard into a legitimate movie studio and produce an entirely original film detailing the incredible adventures of a local jazz legend.
MY REVIEW: When I first heard about Be Kind Rewind before it was even made I was excited. Jack Black, Mos Def and Michel Gondry (the director of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind) making a movie about making other movies, awesome! I imagined what it might look like in my head and for almost two years I waited. Finally, when it came out I was shocked to read one bad review after another. No way, I thought, can it be as bad as they were making it out to be. I had to see it anyway. I don't usually go to the theater but I tried to convince my girlfriend Kelly to go see it with me but even she said it looked stupid. So, I patiently waited for the DVD and now it has arrived. As the movie was ending Kelly was just getting home and I looked at her and said "You were right. You all were right". She had no idea what I was talking about and became a little worried.
I am shocked at how bad this movie really is. Even when everyone was saying it was bad, I didn't think it could be this bad. Not with a talented cast and director such as these. Usually Gondry is visually brilliant. Here he directs like a guy who just graduated from NYU film school and doesn't know what he is doing. Black has a few moments of funny but then becomes over the top and kind of creepy. Def is the calm of the film but doesn't add anything special. Danny Glover acts like he got lost on his way back to the retirement home. The only person I did like in the movie was Melonie Diaz who plays Alma. Throughout the movie she adds something to it that makes the whole thing watchable in a way but still she can't save the whole thing by herself.
Even the scenes where they make the movies, the reason why I really wanted to see this film, are short and horrible. They get a few laughs here and there but go so quickly. They don't even try to make it funny. They just kind of shoot it the way anyone who had a video camera would try to shoot in a serious way. What a disappointment.
The DVD contains a behind the scenes feature which is pretty basic. Also, a feature about the people and places of where they filmed the movie, Passaic, NJ.
MY CHEESY RATING: Be Kind Rewind but don't bother returning it. 3 out of 10
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