Review: ‘Be Kind Rewind’

Travis:

It pains me when I exit a theatre in the trance that comes with experiencing a truly great film, only to be ambushed by a group of casual moviegoers huddled near the exit, each of them regurgitating their own version of the following statement … “That movie sucked! I thought it was supposed to be funny. What the Hell was it about?” I ignored this breach of intellectual etiquette as best I could and continued to enjoy the film which was still playing in my head.

Be Kind Rewind is funny, but its so much more. Michel Gondry has created a piece of his own inner-self for the world to see. As a film-maker, I have no doubt this movie had an extra special importance to Gondry, revealing the heart of what is the essence of making motion pictures. Above all, making movies is an art. It is an art of collaboration between many different artists of many types, all of whom work together to create something they are passionate about. The residents of the small New Jersey town that bands together to help Mike and Jerry achieve their final movie is an example of the magic behind great films.

Mos Def plays Mike, a local guy working in a crumbling video shop owned by Mr. Fletcher, played by Danny Glover. The shop only carries VHS movies and the business is failing. To make matters worse, the city wants to force Mr. Fletcher out of his building to redevelop the area. Mike and his accident-prone friend Jerry, played by Jack Black, are left to maintain the store while Mr. Fletcher is away. Jerry brings tragedy upon the store by demagnetizing all the tapes and the two friends must find a way to make things right. Mike has a wild long-shot of an idea and the two set out to produce their first “Sweded” video.

The lunacy of the idea quickly becomes a sensation among the town’s residents purely for its originality. The town represents movie-watchers who are tired of the same old formulaic manufactured movies that fill the theatres. They are drawn to the small, short and no-cost productions that Mike and Jerry make because they are made by real people. Mr. Fletcher is struggling to figure out what it will take to save his business by spying on the Blockbuster-type rental chain in his town. Be Kind Rewind has a perfect scene where Mr. Fletcher has been in the chain store for two hours, taking notes, when one of the employees approaches him. He is asked to leave if he does not decide what DVD he wants to rent, is offered absolutely no hint of customer service and as Mr. Fletcher notes, has no basic knowledge of movies. I applaud the film for nailing the very flaws of the chain rental stores and why we miss the mom and pop stores that have fallen victim to their Wal-Mart tactics.

In further commentary on the state of the industry, Be Kind Rewind takes shots at the FBI and the war on piracy. Mr. Fletcher’s store falls victim to the bureaucracy and greed of the Hollywood studios when the FBI is sent in to shut down their successful Sweding venture. In a moment of desperation to save all he holds dear, Mike enlists the willing help of the entire neighborhood to make one last film, one of his own. Mike’s true ability emerges and they create a genuine piece of art with nothing but hard work, salvaged materials and equipment and pure creativity. A moment I truly enjoyed was when the crew rigs up a box fan with some string to the front of their camera to make the footage look like classic silent movies. This is the epitome of whatever-it-takes attitude towards making movies that matter. Gondry has clearly made a movie that matters to him.

(4 out of 5)

Zac:

Michel Gondry’s latest is an odd film that displays his creative flair but gets lost in itself by not packing that heartwarming punch it goes for while ditching what it does best, “sweeding”
What is “sweeding” you ask? Well that is what this film is all about; “sweeding” is the low budget bare bones reproduction of a film that captures the most memorable scenes essence of the film while having that personal touch. Next question, why do the stars Jerry and Mike have to “sweed” movies? Jerry (Jack Black) becomes magnetized while investigating a power plant conspiracy theory that makes no sense and has no relevance to the film as a whole other then serving as a silly plot device.
And silly would be the one word to describe this film if forced to give a one word review. It doesn’t takes it self to seriously most of the time, but in the third act the film tries to get sentimental and tries to make sense of a weird historical plot point and it just doesn’t work. The way that Gondry weaves the “Fats” plot into the story just doesn’t work and the film just feels like a smattering of ideas thrown together that Gondry wanted to do but couldn’t stand on their own.
The film does have some genuinely funny and well earned moments. Jack Black and Mos Def work very well together and both have some great laughs throughout. They bring fun and energy to the “sweeded” recreations, that are the shining points of the film, but aren’t able to bring the emotional punch out at the end; that might not be their fault more that the writing though.
Gondry’s inventive style is worth seeing the movie for though and the creatively is endless when they are making the films within the films. There is also a great one take that shows the “sweeding” of a number of films in a shot that involves an immense amount of coordination that really impresses. The Ghostbusters and Rush Hour 2 recreations really stand out and get the most time as well of any of the “sweeded” works and leave you wishing you had more full blown recreations instead of the failed sentimental documentary bits.
In the end, Be Kind Rewind is a bit of a mixed bag, but definitely worth a rental if you are a fun of anyone involved. The “sweeded” stuff is excellent and the two leads are successfully hilarious at times and the film will not disappoint in the creativity department, it just doesn’t come together as a whole in the end.

(2.5 out of 5)

Nick:

Mike (Mos Def) is left in charge of Mr. Fletcher’s (Danny Glover) store, Be Kind Rewind, a rental store that only carries VHS tapes. Jerry (Jack Black) is Mike’s friend who, after getting shocked at an electric plant, becomes magnetized and erases every tape in the store. Rather than owning up to their mistake, the duo decides to make their own cheap knock-offs and record them over all the blank tapes.

The knock-offs are clever – beyond clever – and very funny. Director Michel Gondry stages them with his signature visual panache. ‘Be Kind Rewind’ is so much more than just clever comic set pieces, however, and that is its strength and its weakness. People expecting a simple comedy will find a film that has a lot to say about art, love, community, and the sad truth of corporate control. The problem is, some people just want to see a comedy.

The film feels as though it were conceived as a simple comic idea, and it has comic flights of fancy and a type of physical humor that can only exist in comic fantasy, where the pains of the real world can be played for laughs. This simple idea really struggles with itself as the film rolls on, though, because the characters and their problems become very real. Big business doesn’t have time for mom and pop aesthetics, and money is more valuable than you, our community, and me. The individual must be homogenized, so the mighty dollar can continue its mission of control. The film does find itself, its tone, about half way through and never lets go, getting as close to the heights of Frank Capra as any modern filmmaker has ever come.

It is such a touching film, so bittersweet, and has enormous heart. It has been several days since I watched the movie, and I still don’t know whether to smile or sigh.

You know that feeling where you just desperately want to hug someone, not because you are sad, but because you are happy? This movie is that emotion, a reaffirmation of community and how much the individual really means.

Gondry wants his audience to really love one another, to embrace our disappearing communities.

An emotionally touching, funny, and ultimately rewarding experience.

(4.25 out of 5)

Brett:

Remember when quirk wasn’t just another marketing tool? Remember when it was just a little term to denote an extra bit of weirdness or bizarre creativity in a film, and it wasn’t indicative of an ‘indie’ ad campaign where ‘hilariously witty characters vomit pop culture knowledge at you while proving JUST HOW QUIRKY THEY ARE by blowing your mind with smart reference after smart reference”? Be Kind, Rewind, the latest from director Michel Gondry, is a film that passes the quirk check while checking the obnoxiousness at the door. It’s a film of colorful characters and downright bizarre situations, but somehow these things inhabit a real world of real messes. There are bills to be paid, promises to be kept, and an empathetic desire by people to rise out of the mire they find themselves in. For a film advertised as a ‘wacky concept comedy’, Be Kind, Rewind has more true to life emotion than you might expect.

Following the plight of a failing New Jersey video store temporarily entrusted to the store’s clerk (Mos Def) and his best friend (Jack Black), things take a turn for the weird when a freak transformer electrocution imbues Black with a magnetic field, resulting in the erasure of all the store’s tapes upon his contact with them. Desperate to continue appearances and not let down the store’s beloved owner (Danny Glover), the two take it upon themselves to personally begin replacing the blank tapes with bootleg remakes acted, directed and shot by themselves. These remakes are the antithesis of the slew of real world remakes going around these days; these guys have a love for the originals and imbue their own versions with as much energy and spirit as is possible on their limited budgets. Soon the film becomes a series of races to beat the clock: to recreate Ghostbusters in time for the store’s first remake rental, to produce enough money to save the building, and so on.

Running beneath it all, and potentially alienating viewers arriving to see a straight up Jack Black-style comedy, is an undercurrent of respect for the past and the power of a community standing together. In a world of carbon copy big-chain movie rental stores, of soulless studio remakes and cities where people don’t know their own neighbors, Gondry’s film strives to remind its audience of everywhere we’ve been, from the good old days of your favorite movies on VHS, to the power of a black jazz musician struggling to make his way in a white neighborhood. It’s this surprising depth that lifts the film up beyond being another straight comedy with a cute pitch to something with a little more substance. There are some very minor quibbles I had with it (a secondary romantic development thread that goes nowhere, and Melonie Diaz’s character kind of getting lost in the shuffle during the last twenty minutes or so), but it offered so many reasons to like it that my recommendation is firmly in place. For movie geeks, you’ll get what you came for and then some. It’s only my hope that those coming for straight laughs will appreciate the effort Gondry put into creating a story that goes beyond the studio’s advertisement of it and gives us a little realistic sadness and struggle to identify with as well.

P.S. As good as the remakes in the film were, I’d personally like to see the store’s remake versions of Gummo and American Psycho you can see in that picture above. I honestly can’t even imagine…

(4 out of 5)

[rating: 3.5/5]