Be Kind Rewind

Be Kind Rewind

Directed: Michel Gondry
Starring: Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover

Two video store guys have all their VHS tapes erased, but instead of buying new videos (or possibly upgrading to DVD), they make their own versions of the movies, hoping no one would notice.

What I loved most about this movie were the newer version of movies they created. I found them hilarious and the low-budget way they went about them was highly entertaining. They called these movies “Sweded” which is how they try to describe their technique of taking the basic movie plot and condensing it to about 20 minutes of goofiness resembling the original movie.

Jack Black played a typical Jack Black character. The crazy “sweded” term came from Jack Black’s character who liked to go on long rants that really made no sense, but everyone nodded along until he was finished. His craziness extended to the power plant he lived right next to in his trailer in the junkyard. When he tried to invade and shut off the power (in a hilarious camouflage scene), he became magnetized and erased all the tapes at the video store.

Mos Def played the clerk who works for Morgan Freeman and was charged with watching the store over a few days when all of this happened. He’s a very sweet guy who just wants to impress his boss that he sees as a father figure. Morgan Freeman’s character is off doing some research on the DVD stores to see how he wants to upgrade his video store so he can become more profitable and not lose his store to corporate neighborhood renovations.

In the end, the entire neighborhood came together to try to save the store, which was a good sentiment, but I was completely ready for super happy ending. It didn’t happen, which I thought messed up the sweet movie. It was more realistic and didn’t end on a downer note, but I would have rather it ended slightly differently.

I would have been happy if more of the movie was filled with the “sweded” films. They really made me laugh. I also laughed at the song that played over the ending credits by Fats Waller, who is featured prominently in the movie. His song, “Your Feets Too Big” was so awesome, we sat through all the credits just to listen to it.

Rating: B

One Comment

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.