Michel Gondry’s “Be Kind Rewind” movie comes with a new
challenge and an original idea for a screen: to re-make your favorite movies
and also star in them.
It’s an interesting concept for a movie, just like Gondry’s
previous films: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Dave Chappelle’s
Block Party” and “The Science of Sleep.”
The movie, written and directed by Gondry, starts out good,
with an intriguing idea, but fades away as it goes along.
The movie stars Mos Def as Mike who works in Mr. Flectcher’s
(Danny Glover) video-store, kind of a rusty place, which rents VHS cassettes as
the owner refuses to switch on to modern DVD.
We learn that the building which houses the store is
threatened by a redevelopment scheme of the city and Mr. Fletcher has to leave
for a while on a trip, leaving Mike in charge with the video store.
Mike’s friend, Jerry (Jack Black) who works at a junkyard
and wants to sabotage a power plant claiming it gives him headaches, gets
magnetize and erases by accident all the video from the store.
What there is to do in a video store with no video cassette?
Close it? Nah, why not re-make your favorite movies, but in a shorter version?
That is what the two improvise when Miss Falewicz (Mia
Farrow), a loyal customer, appears for her daily rental.
Mike and Jerry start to reshoot classic movies, starting
with Ghostbusters and continuing with The Lion King, Rush Hour, Ghostbusters,
When We Were Kings, Back to the Future, Driving Miss Daisy, and Robocop. Their
tools: a camcorder, some local people and household objects used as special
effects. Only Gondry could have thought of that one!
Even if Miss Falewicz is fooled by their short Ghostbusters
remake, you would’ve thought other customers won’t. Oh, but you’re wrong!
The two pretend that the movies are ordered from Sweden to
explain the delays and they came up with the word “swede” for their remakes.
They even recruit a girl from the dry cleaner Alma (Melonie
Diaz) as their costar, and they become the stars of the neighborhood.
People line up at their video store to see the remakes and
as they reach their production capacity they invite people to star in their
favorites movies.
Kinda fun right! It probably crossed your mind when you were
little kids and you were playing Robocop with you friends, but to shoot it and
put it out there where everybody could see it! Hey, that’s sounds familiar,
maybe Youtube rings a bell.
As the two are cashing in for their remakes, Sigourney
Weaver appears saying she is a copyright attorney for the studios even though
what the two are making can hardly be called piracy.
Even thought the movie comes with an interesting idea, it
never accomplishes what it sets for in the first place. It seems half way done.
Maybe Gondry wants us to finish the movie, to “swede” it ourselves.
But don’t get me wrong. “Be Kind Rewind” is a likable movie,
a movie you would like to see especially if you’re fond of Jack Black in a
dress, as he is portraying Miss Daisy. It’s a nice way to pass time and it
makes you wonder how you version of Ghostbusters would look like.
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it 62 percent out
of 47 reviews with a consensus “Slighter and less disciplined than Gondry's
previous mind-benders,” while Metacritic rated with 52 percent based on 23
reviews.
Check the trailer here.
Movie Type: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual references.
Running Time: 1 hr. 41 min.
Directed By: Michel Gondry
Cast: Jack Black, Danny Glover, Dante 'Mos Def' Smith, Mia Farrow, Melonie Diaz
Released: February 22nd, 2008 (wide)
U.S. Box Office: TBA
