Be Kind, Rewind review
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Maybe I don’t really have the authority to review this film as I did have my eyes shut for the last half hour while I drifted in and out of consciousness but I gave away an hour and a half of my life goddammit!
Be Kind, Rewind is directed by Michael Gondry and despite the cute plot and Jack Black’s highly strung brand of humour, it falls short in delivery. The film is set in an old-school video store in New Jersey owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). When Fletcher leaves on a conference and puts Mike (Mos Def) in charge and orders him to keep his accident-prone friend Jerry (Jack Black) out, things go predictably wrong. When Jerry attempts to sabotage the local power plant, he becomes magnetised and subsequently erases every video tape in the shop.
In an attempt to salvage the business that is at risk off being demolished, the two friends, along with new recruit Alma (Melonie Diaz), attempt to recreate the classics, home-movie style.
There are some amusing moments of makeshift special effects in the re-makes of Ghostbusters, Rush Hour 2 and Men in Black but they were mainly weak, air-through-the-nose laughs.
I, like Margaret Pomeranz, felt that “the film ought to be funny, with Mike and Jerry recreating those films as home movies. But somehow it’s not, the laughs are very thin on the ground”.
I’m a bit sad really because the choice was between this and another new Jack Black movie, Tropic Thunder but I guess at least it didn’t cost $14, and I got a bit of well-needed shut-eye after an intense week.
