Movie Review: Be Kind Rewind
Mar 16th, 2010 by admin
Director: Michel Gondry
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Year: 2008
All that Elroy Fletcher (Danny Glover; Blindness) has that comes close to a claim to fame is that Fats Waller, a famous jazz player, once lived in the corner apartment that is now both his house and his movie rental business. At a time when everybody has moved on to DVD and on to the digital age, Elroy and his ‘son’ Mike (Mos Def; Cadillac Records, The Italian Job) continue to rent VHS to a small group of people in the community with an unwavering sense of loyalty to the tiny shop. The only problem is that the Be Kind Rewind video store is in danger of being shut down to be turned into tenements and unless they can improve their business model, the store — like Fats Waller — is going to be history.
Enter Jerry (Jack Black; Kung Fu Panda, Tropic Thunder), a loser who lives in his auto junk grounds in a trailer, next to a power plant which is driving him more and more deranged, to the point that he sleeps with a strainer on his head to avoid brain damage. Not that it helps. In an act of sabotage, he ends up becoming accidentally magnetized and when next he visits the video store – during one of Elroy’s outings in an attempt to save the business – Jerry manages to erase all of the video tape rentals, putting Mike in a precarious position. Their solution? Re-film the rental movies themselves, using their own camera, a three to four person cast and extremely low budget effects, hoping against hope that…….nobody will notice.
People notice, but much to their surprise, these ‘Sweded’ films become the hit, bringing the demand to unprecedented heights and bringing the small gang a whole new set of problems.
Awkwardly comic, as Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) only seems to be able to achieve, this film is quirky and goofy but not devoid of content and a message. While intended to be a feel good comedy, this film also playfully manages to become a bit touching at times. Mos Def is at his most playful and Jack Black is up to his usual antics which…if you have seen them in one movie, you have seen them in most others. With a simple but well formed story, this movie is a treat to watch, though one gets the feeling there could have been some fat trimmed off it.
Rating: 
Comments: A bit of mild language and some slightly adult humor, but for the most part this film is pretty clean all around.
Quote: Jerry: [Alma is providing the voices for "The Lion King"] Listen to me. I need you to say the line. I need you to say “I will piss on the bones of your ancestors”…
Mike: No, no! That’s not in the movie!
Jerry: [interrupts] This is the next Lion King. This is Part II.
Alma: Roar! I will piss on the bones of your ancestors!