Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: Dante “Mos Def” Smith, Jack Black, Danny Glover
Genre: comedy, mainstream
Release Date: February 22, 2008
We saw this and I wrote this nearly a month ago, but I kept procrastinating, reluctant to shed negativity on such a wonderful person like Michel Gondry.. but I guess it has to be done.
I had high hopes for Be Kind Rewind, being a huge fan of Michel Gondry’s wildly imaginative theatrics in his music videos; his film foray swept me off my feet with the sweet (and bittersweet) romance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of my all-time favorite movies. But to quote Chris, maybe Eternal Sunshine was a fluke?
Sure the introduction to the small-time Jersey joke-town-with-a-surprise-soul in Be Kind, Rewind was jovial and jolly and pure Gondry. Inventive, prop-heavy scenes that can only be defined as quirky, which pitted Jerry (Jack Black), a half-baked conspiracy theorist alongside and against his best bud Mike (Mos Def who possibly was playing Mike a little loopy, a little retarded), whose patience has run out. It was so funny, my temples stung from short, frequent guffaws. But then my patience ran out.
The piercingly odd dialogue and immaturity of the two main characters got stale rather quickly, with some verrry awkward editing. It was like the comedic-timing train had been viciously derailed and you could only hear sobering squeals as it choked on fiery plumes. Painful. Jack Black as pompous is a given, but there was a moment where everyone in the scene, and I in the theatre, wanted to slap him. I usually like Jack Black, but in Be Kind, Rewind, even his glasses and hair irritated me. Danny Glover put on his “who farted? …maybe it was me” facial expressions, trying his best to be goofy as Mr. Fletcher, the poverty-stricken video store owner bent on convincing everyone that jazz legend Fats Waller was born in his building. Supporting cast were probably in place to uphold the iffy neighborhood vibe with a group of teen thugs and a couple of short-tempered women including cue-card reciting Mia Farrow. With acting that bad, it was difficult to initiate, let alone retain, any suspension of disbelief or empathy. Strange to leave the characters as one-dimensional as the cardboard cut-outs Gondry brings life to.
The warm, cuddly storyline attempt was only partially saved by snippets loaded with Gondry-esque special effects: the movie remakes (most are given away in the trailer, like Ghostbusters) and the Fats Waller falsified documentary that the neighborhood bands together to make in a last-ditch effort to save Mr. Fletcher’s video store/abode from the clutches of evil housing developers. After all that, a mighty over-the-top “Christmas miracle” type closing is all to be expected from Be Kind, Rewind, and is exactly what you get.
Perhaps it could have worked if it wasn’t so haphazard yet linear, wasn’t relying on a cutesy diluted fashion; to allow Gondry’s magic to really shine. Maybe it felt sloppy and unpolished because it was half-hashed out with (and needed more guidance from) Dave Chappelle, following the successful Gondry documentary Block Party featuring the funnyman. Not that I’m expecting polished work from Gondry; part of his charm is the childlike craftsmanship, but I wasn’t expecting it to be presented in such a choppy contextual container.
If I erase all the horrid dialogue and horrible missed timing, I could really love Be Kind, Rewind. I do like how the movie’s title harkens to sweeter past, a time where VHS tapes were innovative and when neighborhoods were communities.
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Too true. I felt conflicted as well. I liked the message, but the film itself was a bit of a chore to sit through. Odd though that we saw two films in a row featuring tinfoil hats. Nice review, hun!
Chris Nelson posted on March 11th, 2008