IMDb > Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Be Kind Rewind
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Be Kind Rewind (2008) -- A man whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films.
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Overview

User Rating:
6.6/10   37,872 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Michel Gondry
Writer:
Michel Gondry (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Be Kind Rewind on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
22 February 2008 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Drama more
Tagline:
You name it, we shoot it more
Plot:
A man whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(82 articles)
Trailer Premiere: "I'll Come Running"
 (From IFC. 4 November 2009, 11:08 AM, PST)
10 Most Underrated Young Actresses
 (From The Movie Fanatic. 22 October 2009, 1:48 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Black and Def are excellent, but the rest of the film is just disappointing more (208 total)
US TV Schedule:
Sat. Nov. 287:15 AMMAX   

Cast

  (in credits order)

Jack Black ... Jerry Gerber

Mos Def ... Mike

Danny Glover ... Elroy Fletcher

Mia Farrow ... Miss Falewicz

Melonie Diaz ... Alma
Irv Gooch ... Wilson

Chandler Parker ... Craig

Arjay Smith ... Manny

Quinton Aaron ... Q

Gio Perez ... Randy
Basia Rosas ... Andrea
Tomasz Soltys ... Carl

Marcus Carl Franklin ... Kid #1
Blake Hightower ... Kid #2

Amir Ali Said ... Kid #3
David Slotkoff ... Jack
Frank Heins ... Patrick
Heather Lawless ... Sherry
Karolina Wydra ... Gabrielle Bochenski
Harvey Hogan ... Video Store Customer #1
Ted McElwee ... Video Store Customer #2
Walter Helbig ... Video Store Customer #3
Victor Dickerson ... Man in Video Store #1
David M. Sheppard ... Man in Video Store #2

Marc Alan Austen ... Man in Video Store #3
Paul Barman ... Young Man Watching TV
Karen Spitzer ... Young Woman Watching TV
Allie Woods Jr. ... Doctor Bent
McKinley Page ... Brother McDuff
Francisco Fabian ... Simon from the Copy Shop
Kishu Chand ... Alma's Sister
Ann Longo ... Miss Falewicz's Friend
Parrie Hodges ... Miss Falewicz's Friend / Fats Waller's Mom

Kid Creole ... West Coast Video Employee Passaic (as August Darnell)
Jon Glaser ... West Coast Video Employee NYC

P.J. Byrne ... Mr. Baker
Marceline Hugot ... City Hall Employee

John Tormey ... Demolition Chief
Frank Girardeau ... Officer Gary

Matt Walsh ... Officer Julian

Paul Dinello ... Mr. Rooney

Sigourney Weaver ... Ms. Lawson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Elizabeth Berkley ... Girl In Library (uncredited)
Sacha Bourdo ... Man in queue (uncredited)
Steve Cropper ... Fats Waller's fan in train (uncredited)

Anthony Guerino ... Laundromat Patron (uncredited)
Booker T. Jones ... Fats Waller's fan in train (uncredited)
Loukas Papas ... Tophat Harry (uncredited)
Jimmy Scott ... Fats Waller's fan in train (uncredited)
McCoy Tyner ... Fats Waller's fan in train (uncredited)

Todd Travis Warrick ... Store Patron (uncredited)
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Directed by
Michel Gondry 
 
Writing credits
Michel Gondry (written by)

Produced by
Raffi Adlan .... associate producer
Georges Bermann .... producer
Toby Emmerich .... executive producer
Julie Fong .... producer
Michel Gondry .... producer
Ann Ruark .... co-producer
Guy Stodel .... executive producer
 
Original Music by
Jean-Michel Bernard 
 
Cinematography by
Ellen Kuras 
 
Film Editing by
Jeff Buchanan 
 
Casting by
Jeanne McCarthy 
 
Production Design by
Dan Leigh 
 
Art Direction by
James Donahue 
 
Set Decoration by
Ron von Blomberg 
 
Costume Design by
Rahel Afiley 
Kishu Chand 
 
Makeup Department
Marjorie Durand .... makeup department head
Suzy Mazzarese-Allison .... hair department head
 
Production Management
Gwen Bialic .... production supervisor
Kendall McCarthy .... post-production supervisor
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Catherine Bloch .... additional second assistant director
David Fischer .... second second assistant director
Michael Hausman .... first assistant director
Jesse Nye .... second assistant director
Eric West .... additional second assistant director: action unit (uncredited)
 
Art Department
Robert Antalocy .... carpenter
Stuart Auld .... scenic artist
Russell Barnes .... art department coordinator
Jeff Butcher .... property master: New York
Doug Coleman .... set dresser
Brandon Cook .... set dresser
Guido DeCurtis .... lead man
Amy S. Dholakia .... graphic artist: props
Daniel Fisher .... assistant property master
Alison Ford .... assistant art director
Isaac Gabaeff .... set dresser
Kley Gilbuena .... props assistant
Jeffrey Halls .... carpenter
Jay Hendrickx .... camera scenic
Akeo Ihara .... prop fabricator
Jon Kim .... additional props
Jon Kim .... set dresser
Jesse Klipp .... set dresser
Jonathan B. Lee .... set dresser
Carlton McClarence .... set dresser
Evan C. Newell .... art team: construction grip (as Evan Newell)
Kevin L. Raper .... additional graphic artist
Tim Rossiter .... props fabrication
Noreen Souza-Bailey .... art intern
Susan Tatom .... set dresser
Dennis Tillberg .... scenic artist
Andrew M. Velechenko .... carpenter
Danielle Webb .... props fabrication
Eric West .... location on-set dresser
Monica Wille .... art department assistant
Rob Yapkowitz .... set dresser
Tomas Zeman .... art researcher
Jen Day .... set production assistant (uncredited)
 
Sound Department
Gina Alfano .... adr editor
Jamie Baker .... supervising foley editor
David Corcoran .... apprentice sound editor
Marko A. Costanzo .... foley artist
Jeanne Gilliland .... boom operator
Anguibe Guindo .... sound utility (as A. G. Guindo)
Eric Hirsch .... sound re-recordist
Paul Hsu .... sound re-recording mixer
Paul Hsu .... supervising sound editor
Frank Kern .... foley editor
Dan Korintus .... dialogue editor
George A. Lara .... foley mixer
Lisa J. Levine .... adr editor (as Lisa Levine)
Marissa Littlefield .... supervising adr editor
Branka Mrkic .... dialogue editor (as Branka Mrkic-Tana)
Egor Panchenko .... ProTools playback mixer
Egor Panchenko .... sound utility
Egor Panchenko .... utility boom
Mary Ellen Porto .... adr editor
Alex Soto .... assistant sound editor
Reilly Steele .... sound re-recording mixer
Jeffrey Stern .... dialogue editor
Sara Stern .... first assistant sound editor
Eric Thompson .... adr mixer
Robert Troeller .... sound technician
Pawel Wdowczak .... sound
 
Special Effects by
Russell Berg .... special effects coordinator (as Russell J. Berg)
Doug Coleman .... special effects technician
Chris Jordan .... special effects
Steven Kirshoff .... special effects manufacturer (as Steve Kirshoff)
Tim Rossiter .... special effects coordinator
Danielle Webb .... special effects
 
Visual Effects by
François-Xavier Aubague .... visual effects producer: BUF
Patrick Clancey .... digital opticals
Melanie Cussac .... visual effects producer: BUF
Aaron Dorn .... digital opticals producer: EFilm
Pierre Escande .... visual effects coordinator
Nadia Essid .... digital artist
Frederique Gyuran .... digital artist: BUF
Nicolas Jauffret .... software research & development: BUF
Gregory Jennings .... digital artist: BUF
Fabrice Lagayette .... visual effects supervisor: BUF
Cynthia Mourou .... visual effects producer
Isabelle Perin-Leduc .... digital artist
Nolwenn Rimbault .... digital artist: BUF
Jean-Gabriel Saint-Paul .... visual effects consultant
Danita Slaughter .... digital opticals editor
Thomas Mathai .... data manager (uncredited)
 
Stunts
Matt Berkoski .... stunt player
Scott Burik .... stunt rigger
Bob Colletti .... stunt double
Jeffrey Lee Gibson .... stunt rigger
Dave Pope .... stunts: band member
Stephen A. Pope .... stunt coordinator (as Stephen Pope)
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Sebastián Almeida .... assistant camera
Diaz Alzaro .... grip
Tony Arnaud .... best boy grip
Kelly Britt .... electrician
Anne Carson .... assistant camera
Lamont Crawford .... key grip
Andrea Cronin-Souza .... electrician
Fernando Gayesky .... additional assistant camera
Abbot Genser .... still photographer
Sandy Hays .... steadicam operator
Charles Libin .... additional camera operator: "b" camera
Kim Marcelino .... additional electrician
Michael C. Maronna .... electrician
John C. Nadeau .... gaffer
Chris Norr .... camera operator: 'a' camera
Craig Pecchia .... camera intern
Christopher Raymond .... assistant camera
Brooke Stanford .... electrician
John Tanzer .... generator operator
Dana Turken .... additional camera loader
Craig Vaccaro .... key rigging grip
Craig Paul Harris .... electrician (uncredited)
J. Dan Wright .... light balloon technician (uncredited)
 
Casting Department
Nicole Abellera .... casting associate
Joanne Bloom .... casting assistant
Kathleen Chopin .... additional casting
Morgan Donaho .... casting assistant
Mellicent Dyane .... extras casting
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jessica Chaney .... key on-set costumer
Jackie Freeman .... additional costumer
Tonya Huskey .... costume supervisor
 
Editorial Department
Kenny Becker .... color timer
Terra Bliss-Alvarez .... digital intermediate producer (as Terra Bliss)
Eileen Godoy .... digital intermediate producer
Nat Jencks .... assistant editor
Alex Kopit .... first assistant editor
Natasha Leonnet .... digital film colorist
Curtis Lindersmith .... digital intermediate editor
Marc Lulkin .... digital color assist
Scott Maloney .... telecine colorist
Tom Reiser .... digital intermediate color assist
Alec Styborski .... editing room assistant
Justin Worthington .... digital intermediate assistant
 
Music Department
Jean-Michel Bernard .... conductor
Jean-Michel Bernard .... orchestrator
Dan Bora .... music preparation
Hector Castillo .... score engineer
Linda Cohen .... music supervisor
Pedro H. da Silva .... musician: electric guitar
Tass Filipos .... music editor
François Gauthier .... assistant score engineer
Michel Gondry .... musician: drums, play
Bruno Mercere .... music recording mixer
Bruno Mercere .... score engineer
Nico Muhly .... additional orchestrator
Ichiho Nishiki .... assistant score engineer
Jean-Michel Tavernier .... orchestra manager
Adam Thompson .... assistant score engineer
 
Transportation Department
Matthew Callagy .... driver
William Ferrick .... driver
William 'Mac' Maquez .... driver
Ed Savago .... driver
 
Other crew
Nick Aase .... intern
Daniel Atherton .... production assistant
John Bair .... title designer: main titles
Cassandra Barbour .... rights and clearances
Dawn Barkan .... animal coordinator
Anna Bosco .... payroll accountant
Katie Brewer Ball .... production assistant
Rich Brush .... production assistant
Lauren Buchholz .... production assistant
Al Cerullo .... helicopter pilot
Wayne Cerullo .... ground operator
Chris Cloud .... unit location assistant
Alison S. Cohen .... production counsel
Wendy Cohen .... additional clearances
Mary Cybulski .... script supervisor
Alison Davis .... assistant production coordinator
Gleanna Doyle .... cat trainer
May Elbaz .... principal stitcher
Scott Ferlisi .... location assistant
T.G. Firestone .... behind-the-scenes documentarian
Amanda Foley .... location coordinator
Laurence Granec .... press attache: France
Eddie Griffith .... production assistant
Louis Gropman .... production assistant
Alexander Hammer .... production assistant
Peter Hutchison .... production accountant
Lisa Kelley .... additional production assistant
Jeremy Konner .... assistant: Jack Black
Gabriella Ludlow .... production legal
Nic Marshall .... production intern
Karine Menard .... press attache: France
John Merchant .... production secretary
Kirsten Norr .... set production assistant
Alex Paster .... additional set production assistant
Derek Pastures .... parking coordinator
Andrew Poppoon .... location assistant
Oliver Refson .... production assistant
Guillaume Renberg .... remote head technician
Christina I. Rodriguez .... production assistant: first team
Ben Schoen .... title designer: end titles
Julia Seidel .... additional production assistant
Laura Sevier .... rights and clearances
Ricardo Uhagon Vivas .... set production assistant
Julie Van den Bulck .... assistant: Georges Bermann
Gayle Vangrofsky .... location manager
Christian Vendetti .... key production assistant
Daniel Wagner .... production office coordinator
Marc Walsh .... first accountant
Atilla Yucer .... key production assistant
Russ Klein .... set production assistant (uncredited)
Nicholas Walker .... production assistant (uncredited)
 
Thanks
Walter F. Parkes .... thanks
Ivan Reitman .... thanks
 

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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for some sexual references. (also video version)
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
102 min
Country:
UK | USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital
Certification:
Ireland:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43318) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Australia:PG | Norway:7 | Denmark:A | Sweden:Btl | Singapore:PG | Germany:o.Al. | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-3 | Greece:K | Netherlands:AL | USA:PG-13 | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:M | France:U | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Iceland:L | New Zealand:M | Brazil:Livre
Filming Locations:
Hackensack, New Jersey, USA more
Company:
New Line Cinema more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Director Michel Gondry insisted on using the inhabitants of Passaic, New Jersey (the film was shot on location in Passaic, the town where the story of the movie actually takes place) as extras and some as prominent actors throughout the film. The scene where the inhabitants get to see "Fats was Born in Passaic" (the biopic and only non-Sweded production) playing on the video store window actually featured the inhabitants watching the movie they had worked long and hard on for the very first time. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: The type of movies they were making would definitely have fallen under the "parody" exception of United States copyright law. more
Quotes:
Jerry: What's happening to our hood? more
Movie Connections:
Features Snakes on a Plane (2006) more
Soundtrack:
Ain't Misbehavin' more

FAQ

Is there an official website for this movie?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
more

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
49 out of 89 people found the following comment useful.
Black and Def are excellent, but the rest of the film is just disappointing, 26 February 2008
7/10
Author: DonFishies from Canada

Just reading a brief synopsis got me fairly hyped for Be Kind Rewind. The film was written and directed by Michel Gondry, who directed my favourite movie in the last five years, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so it was a no-brainer that this would be a movie I would want to see. But unfortunately, the idea seemed to be a whole lot better than the final product.

Mike (Mos Def) works at an aging video rental story in New Jersey run by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). Despite the advent of DVD, the store only carries VHS tapes, and rents them to local customers at a fee far cheaper than the usual rental store. The store is apparently a landmark, so Mr. Fletcher does not want to give into local developers looking to turn the block into a nice piece of real estate. He leaves Mike in charge for a few days, but leaves specific instructions for him to not his friend Jerry (Jack Black) into the store. He does, and after a rather amusing accident, Jerry manages to erase all of the tapes in the store. To help cover this up, Mike and Jerry begin to film their own versions of the films.

It sounds creative on paper, but Be Kind Rewind is too muddled in subplots to really take advantage of its outrageous idea. The entire landmark dispute becomes rather boring and annoying right after it is mentioned, and the frequent mention of jazz musician Fats Waller loses its sentimental and nostalgic touch far too early on in the film. It just lacks the focus of Eternal Sunshine, and lacks the daring scope of The Science of Sleep, another film by Gondry. While Sleep was not all that great either, it seems to have had a much better grip on the point of the movie than Rewind does. It mopes around far too much, and I found myself more bored than I ever thought I would be watching it. I wanted to be interested, but the film did not make for many interesting moments. It has a sense of purpose and clearly knows what it wants to accomplish, but allowing it to seems to be an issue the film can never overcome.

One of these reasons may be the lack of depth in the characters. We learn very little about Mike or Jerry, and their pasts and motivations seem to never come up. We just know the basics, and that seems to be enough. Ditto for Mr. Fletcher, the frequent customer Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) and Alma (Melonie Diaz), who seems to get thrown into the mix rather randomly half way through the film, and never seems to fully materialize as anything other than being a female in a primarily male dominated main cast. Gondry clearly has a point for these characters to be here interacting (and a couple of curious supporting characters like Irv Gooch's Wilson, who lend the film a lot of its laughs), but he does not seem to want to make them be anything more than near one-dimensional cut-outs. I do not want to make them seem as simplistic as that, but more often than not, I really found myself not seeing anything other than that.

When the film actually gets to its key drawing point, the re-filming of the VHS movies (or sweding as the film refers to it as), it does bring in a lot of that creative depth Gondry is known for. Using many different angles and stylistic devices, Gondry remakes specific scenes out of these movies with ease, and brings a lot of humour to them as well. Watching Def and Black redo Ghostbusters is absolutely hysterical, as is their redoing of Driving Miss Daisy, King Kong, We Were Kings and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But unfortunately, these scenes are really short and sweet, and many of them are never lingered on. Frequently, they are only mere seconds long before the next sweded movie scene comes in. At one point, there is just a scrolling list of movies that are being redone, but barely any are shown on screen. It is a little disappointing, but I did really like the footage that is shown.

While the film's storyline is a little winded, and the character development is a little off, the actors themselves do really well.

Def continues to impress, and helps carry this film from beginning to end. I am never really impressed with his work, but he seems to have a knack for making his characters enjoyable and very human in their design. He just seems to have that natural acting talent that every young actor tries to have, but never can truly create for themselves. Even in its most boring sections, Def delivers a great performance that is insightful and more introspective of what the film could have been had Gondry put more effort into it.

The same goes for Black, who continues to redefine himself as an actor. On one hand, he does his usual screwball schtick to its finest degree, and gets plenty of laughs for it. But on the other, he really develops his dramatic side, one that is seen only in the likes of King Kong (where his performance is not nearly as well liked as I think it is) and pretentious fare like Margot at the Wedding (which I doubt many people will ever attempt to see). It is a fine balance, and Black walks it perfectly throughout the film, and gives a solid performance for one of the film's most undefined characters. Kudos to him for really making something of it.

While the rest of the supporting cast does fairly well for themselves, none ever match the charisma or the chemistry that Def and Black share. And in a film that is disappointing already, that makes it all the more worse.

7/10.

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This movie is unwatchable kaplanj-1
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A comedy without any jokes? stylekat
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ending kman52
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