There’s a charming idea buried under landfills of whimsicality in “Be Kind Rewind.” It is: Given a chance to remake their favorite movies the way they want and starring themselves, wouldn’t most people get a kick out of it? That underlying concept generates a lot of goodwill. And this movie from France’s increasingly patience- and believability-trying Michel Gondry needs all of the sympathy it can get.
**1/2 RATING | Movie-Buff Whimsy
“Rewind” is neither as antic nor as whiny as Gondry’s recent efforts “The Science of Sleep” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” But it’s also less ambitious; before, he was at least digging for deep psychological and emotional truths. “Rewind” is also far, far stupider. The premise here, though sweet, is just a mildly sci-fi goof-up with highly unlikely behavioral results.
And we have to buy that anybody, anywhere in America still rents VHS videotapes to even get started.
But for reasons that never sound plausible, those are the featured commodities at the run-down Passaic, N.J. video store run by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). The clerk there is dim bulb Mike (Mos Def).
Mike’s best friend Jerry (Jack Black) lives in an auto repair yard across the street, next to a power plant that he’s convinced is pumping him full of radiation.
Jerry’s right, kind of. Following a mishap, his brain is magnetized to the point where, by entering the store, he erases all of the videotapes. Desperate to keep the customers satisfied before Mr. Fletcher returns from a trip and finds out what happened, the two idiots set about reshooting “Ghostbusters,” “Rush Hour,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “King Kong” and others, starring themselves and with homemade effects and camera tricks.
This scam goes over surprisingly well with their renters. Popularity for the stripped-down productions increases, and word gets out.
People start requesting the guys’ versions of their favorite movies; they relate to the rinky-dinkness of it all.
And then the feds move in.
We only catch glimpses of most of the Mike/Jerry movies, and they’re generally pretty cute (I particularly liked their “Boogie Nights”: Basically, Jerry and Melonie Diaz’s designated leading lady, Alma, jump on a mattress fully clothed and toss pillows and blankets around).
But the faux-naive character work that goes on in between shoots is some of Gondry’s worst ever. Even Black can’t mug his way into making much of it funny.
Of course, “Be Kind Rewind” may not be as amusing as we want because Gondry, who also wrote the piece, thinks he’s making an important statement about mass media with it.
Maybe, but the message doesn’t come through at all sensibly.
I somehow doubt that it would in French, either.
“Be Kind Rewind”
PG-13 for some sexual references. 1 hour, 41 minutes. Written and directed by Michel Gondry. Starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Melonie Diaz. Opens today at area theaters.
