 KSL Movie Show Review:...
BE KIND REWIND ** By Steve Salles Standard Examiner movie critic GO: if you think Jack Black and Mos Def are funny no matter what they do - this should be a good test. DON’T GO: if the thought of a VHS rental store in today’s world seems more than a little odd. I noticed the name of the video store in the movie was “Be Kind Rewind” but I think it may be more of a plea to audiences along the lines of “Be Kind - No Refunds.” Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) is trying to save his corner business from the redevelopment wrecking ball in Passaic, New Jersey. It’s a VHS rental store in today’s world, so you can imagine it doesn’t see a lot of foot traffic. He sets off on a fact-finding mission to learn how he can update his inventory (gosh, converting to DVD was screaming in my head) and leaves his trusted clerk Mike (Mos Def) in charge. The only specific order he has is “keep Jerry out” that he scrawls on the train window from the inside as he’s leaving and it reads “tuo yrrej peek.” Unfortunately, it takes Mike forever to figure out what that means because “Jerry is already in.” Jerry (Jack Black) is Mike’s best friend. He lives in a motorhome parked next to the nearby power plant. He’s obsessed with fears of electromagnetic waves damaging his brain. From the way he acts, I’d say he’s a bit too late on the diagnosis. Determined to sabotage the plant, idiot Jerry breaks in, gets lit up like a Christmas tree, comes away full magnetized and then inadvertently blanks all of the VHS tapes in Mr. Fletcher’s store. When customers start complaining, Mike and Jerry must come up with a plan to replace the movies before Mr. Fletcher returns. So they decide to shoot their own versions of the most popular films like “Ghostbusters,” Rush Hour 2,” “The Lion King” “When We Were Kings” and “Robocop” to name a few. To their surprise (and mine as well), customers are loving this guerrilla-style remaking of these classic movies and want more. And truly, some of the techniques they come up with in these amateur re-shoots are kinda funny, but not funny enough to carry a movie that’s suddenly more about a community coming together and less about the laughs. My biggest question was why Mr. Fletcher had to travel so far away to realize that DVD was the wave of the rental future. There was a modern video store just down the block filled with patrons that he could have learned from in a few hours. Jack Black tries to spice up the effort with his usual antics, but they weren’t nearly as effective as the calming influence of Mos Def who really came across at the film’s voice of reason. And this film surely needed one - something. So, “Be Kind Rewind” will soon be relegated to the “bargain bin” of your own local video store ironically. Unfortunately an idea that had potential, but never really came into full focus. THE FILM: “Be Kind Rewind” OUR RATING: ** STARRING: Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow and Melonie Diaz BEHIND THE SCENES: Written and directed by MIchel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” “The Science of Sleep”) - filmed in New York and New Jersey PLAYING: Running time: 101 minutes MPAA RATING: PG-13
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