IMDb user comments for
Be Kind Rewind (2008)

advertisement

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 9:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Index

85 comments in total

---

75 out of 105 people found the following comment useful :-
Funny and endearing movie from Gondry, 21 January 2008

Author: (bard@hellobard.com) from London, England

The trailer really said it all about this film, and the film delivers everything it promises! What a great concept and how great a story we got from Gondry this time. Very accessible (unlike Science of Sleep) and entertaining from beginning to end. Jack Black and Mos Def play their parts well and the aforementioned is actually funny in this one, unlike a lot of his recent work. At the core of it all, Be Kind Rewind tells a great story about how you don't really need high-tech equipment to make movies. Who needs film-school when you've got your friends and a cheap camera?

I really enjoyed this film.

---

25 out of 33 people found the following comment useful :-
Fun film, though script is lacking, 25 February 2008

Author: mrtimlarabee from United States

Michel Gondry is a very talented filmmaker especially when it comes to visuals. His music videos and films go beyond simple video marvels into a world of simple visual trickery. This is something Gondry is very good at. Furthermore, he has a do it yourself mantra when it comes to filmaking. He's not into the marvels of CGI. He's more into what you can do without it.

But it takes a little more than visual trickery to make a film a success. Be Kind Rewind is a prime example. The film starts off well enough. Mos Def helps run a video store owned by Danny Glover's character. The store is probably one of the last remaining stores catering to VHS. Jack Black is Mos Def's left of center friend who works at an electrical plant. Through some plan to sabotage the plant, he becomes magnetic, erasing all the tapes.

Our heroes are forced to re-record the movies and do it through a process called "sweding," producing 10-15 minute versions of the film, using a wide array of do it yourself techniques that Gondry himself has utilized in his work. An example is a simple trick where filming through a fan makes the film look old. All of this is fun. The way the guys try to truncate the film's stories into a little time or their lack of knowledge regarding some films like Driving Miss Daisy. the crude effects are fun and are prime examples of why we love Michel Gondry.

The downside to the film is the script, penned by Gondry. Clearly, the film is built around the sweded films. But I was starting to think that watching the sweded films would've been more fun than watching Be Kind Rewind itself. Gondry never fully fleshes out his characters or resolves some of the subplots. The visuals are fun, but when Gondry's forced to wrap up the movie, it becomes a little sporadic and we start to realize the the film doesn't go much beyond its rich concept.

There is something great to take away from this film. And while I have some reservations about the film, my recommendation for the film is based on Gondry's filmaking vision. That is to say, there is clearly a joy of filmaking associated with Gondry that will have me continue to look forward to his work. If you're not sure what I mean, take a look at his promotional materials or at his other short films. The man loves filmaking and has fun with this movie. However, I'd recommend he build an alliance with some good screenwriters that would help his visions become fully realized, and not just good natured diversions, as this film is.

---

27 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
Lovely, charming, original and not too sweet, 22 February 2008

Author: shomethemovie from United States

I missed this film at Sundance, caught it as soon as possible, and I wasn't disappointed. Despite being privy to the exhaustive fine-tuning of an indie film with an improvised feel, watching "Be Kind" I could absolutely believe it came together as quickly and spontaneously as the snippets of "sweded" films. This was part of its charm and I think Gondry's intention.

All the actors were engaging, and genuine heartfelt emotion - most definitely by the surprising, naturally pitch-perfect Mos Def - transcended the dialog, plot points and general wackiness.

The Fats Waller thread was just random enough and very skillfully and satisfyingly woven into the story from beginning to end. This and many other details - including touches like lovely Mia Farrow's curiosity about supernatural films and Sigourney Weaver's brief take-charge turn - convinced me that Gondry put quite a bit of thought and skill into perfecting the film's endearing awkwardness. It might not be to everybody's taste, but I think it was a great idea, executed and seasoned just right.

---

23 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Skillfully Directed, Decent Acting, and A lot of Fun, 22 February 2008

Author: sUrf_wAX_AMeRica55 from United States

OK let me start off saying that i loved Eternal Sunshine and had pretty high hopes for this film. Michael Gondry did a more than exceptional job to capture the tone of this film which i'll describe as old-school, and scraggly. Jack Black once again played the same part he usually does just a funny weird dude, Mos Def did a real nice job a lot better than I expected after seeing him in Hitchikers Guide to The Galaxy. Danny Glover was really great. But the thing I loved about this film is that it was so different from the usual cliché comedy. The movie does have some flaws but what the heck, just go see it and relax. Its not supposed to be a Citezen Kane. Overall the film was real fun and actually a little touching, so go see it. I recommend it for sure. Real Fun!!

---

12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Black and Def are excellent, but the rest of the film is just disappointing, 26 February 2008

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.

---

12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Gondry lays out another visual feast, 26 February 2008

Author: come2whereimfrom from United Kingdom

This is the latest brainchild of Michel Gondry the one time video maker turned director of 'Eternal Sunshine..' and 'The Science of Sleep' and once again there's a visual feast on offer. On many levels this is just a clever comedy but on many others its much more than that, it is a homage to film-making as a whole, the death of artistry in the face of technology, the sense of community that cinemas can bring in a world where cinema is struggling against the internet and apathy. Jack Black and Mos Def play at odds friends who have an outlet running the local video store 'Be Kind Rewind', with the huge DVD emporium down the road the business is struggling and in danger of being pulled down to make way for condos. After a freak accident wipes all the tapes in the shop the pair decide to remake all the films rather than get caught and lose the shop and this then is where Gondry et al step up to the mark and let their imaginations run wild with hilarious consequences. The first film they make is 'Ghostbusters' and it sets the premises of what is to come as they do their own versions of 'Robocop, Lion King, Rush Hour 2 and Men in Black to name but a few. Black and Def play off each other really well but it's the ingenuity in the sets and lo-fi costumes that make all these little twenty minute 'Swedes' (The tapes are described as having come from Sweden as an excuse for higher rental fees and longer wait times) brilliantly funny. They are even available to watch online and you're also encouraged to make your own! The story is for want of a better word silly and my only criticism I have is that Gondry tends to be too whimsical and over idealistic at times but that said he is portraying a fantasy world where he can play like a child with bits of old rubbish and sticky back plastic and come up with stunning arty creations that shine on screen. With so much subject matter to work with Gondry picks films that he is sure most people will have seen, although I hadn't seen 'Rush Hour 2' and so struggled to find all of that section funny, so on the off chance you haven't seen any of the films being Sweded you may wonder what the hell is going on. Be Kind.. is not a new story or even a new idea but it has new things to say about the state of the industry, copyright law and ownership that hide subtly below the comedy and it is so full of visual ideas it's a film you could quite easily watch again. Not as dark as 'Eternal Sunshine' and slightly better than 'Science of Sleep' Gondry is proving he can do aesthetically great lo-fi films without the lure of CGI or the Hollywood big budget. Like the war between VHS tapes and DVDs Gondry is taking on the big boys and coming out relatively unscathed.

---

29 out of 50 people found the following comment useful :-
Fast forward through the beginning and you have a great movie here..., 20 February 2008

Author: Simon Parker from United Kingdom

Remember the days when the VHS dominated the market, the days you had to sit for ages rewinding or fast forwarding the damned things just to find the moment in the film you wanted. I know it seems like a lifetime ago, DVD quickly saw an end to that tedious routine. However, there is still something nice about a VHS, I don't know what it is but it just feels a bit more homely. That's the way that Be Kind Rewind seems to have gone, sure it isn't as nice looking, it isn't as memorable, and hell it even gets a bit tedious after a while, but it has a nice feel to it. Be Kind Rewind in essence appears to be nothing more than a string of amateur movie clips strung together by a plot, that's what the trailers make it out to be. But when you watch the film and you peel back the surface you find something more, a good natured storyline that actually is genuinely heart warming. Unfortunately however the movie takes a while for an humour or heart warming to kick in. The film for at least twenty five minutes verges on boring. But once you get past the dull part, and the movie remakes kick in the movie just becomes hilarious, and when the movies true moral kicks in at the end, despite it at times feeling forced, the movie at least does seem to suck you in still. The performances are pretty top notch and the script is witty. Sure it is not even in the same league as Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but the movie is well written and will leave you feeling that little bit warmer inside once you leave the cinema.

So let me get onto the performances. Jack Black is obviously the major star of the film, now I'll be honest I approached his performance with some caution. I admit that Jack Black is an incredible talent, School of Rock and to some extent even Tenacious D the movie confirmed this, nevertheless when given the wrong material he is pretty awful. Nacho Libre, one of the biggest disappointments in recent years, left me horrified that someone had made me dislike a Jack Black performance. And then at Christmas I had to endure The Holiday, the less said about that the better. Thankfully Black is at home in this movie, he has the opportunity to be completely manic, he does a classic Jackie Chan impersonation and he also has a genuine heart in the film. He also works superbly alongside Mos Def, who is admittedly quite dull at the start of the movie, but when he has some weight in the script he delivers a great performance. Danny Glover finally proved he could act in this movie, in recent films he has been on auto-pilot, but here he seems to like the movie he is in. Mia Farrow makes a welcome, if admittedly pointless appearance. And Sigourney Weaver pops along and almost steals the movie in way too brief screen time.

I suppose however that Be Kind Rewind's biggest selling point has to be the remakes of the movies. Well I was quite surprised not to see too much of them, in fact one of my biggest complaints is that we say way too little of them. The Ghostbusters sequence is a classic, in fact in years to come I'm sure I'll love that scene as much as I do today. The driving Miss Daisy scene is priceless, but apart those and the Rush Hour 2 scenes, we get brief glimpses at the other films. I'd have loved to see more on Men In Black, the Lord of the Rings remake that we see the case of, 2001 and all those others. They're the best bits of the film yet they flash past way too quickly. Matters are never helped that too much time is focused on the making of a Fats Waller movie, sure those scenes are extremely touching, but the characters waffle way too much about the man and you get sick and tired of it by the end. Thankfully the movie does have genuine heart, the final fifteen minutes just make you feel happy and make you smile. The ending is very abrupt, but the scenes proceeding it are pitch perfect.

Be Kind Rewind is a decent movie that could have been an all time classic, alas the movie just has too many mediocre moments for it to ever be something you can endlessly watch. The remake scenes are priceless and it is a nice movie to watch, but a very slow beginning and a lack of memorable moments make this something to rent or watch once.

---

7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Quirky enough to be above average, 24 February 2008

Author: gregeichelberger from San Diego

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

While I don't usually comment on other reviews from this site, I was struck with one person who included "Another thought-provoking film by Jack Black" in the headline. And while everyone has a right to their opinion, I'm trying to figure out what "thought-provoking" film Jack Black has made lately.

Was it "Shallow Hal"? Was it "Nacho Libre"? Was it "Orange County"?Could it have been "King Kong"? Or maybe it was "Tenacious D" or "Holiday."

Might have been "Hi-Fidelity," which I did like, but then again, that was made almost 10 years ago.

His pictures have been cute, funny, stupid and interesting, but never "thought-provoking." Even this latest release, "Be Kind, Rewind," directed by Michael Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Dave Chappell's Block Party"), isn't so much a thinking man's movie as it is a quirky, goofy, silly, genre-bending mish-mash. It isn't bad, at all-but it certainly is not up there with either of Gondry's other two efforts.

In fact, it was Jack Black who forced me to give this movie a 6 rather than a 7. He can be a bottle-rocket of superheated energy and passion when directed correctly (like in "School of Rock") or he can be an embarrassing loose cannon of buffoonery (such as "Libre").

Here, he plays Jerry, a junkyard worker who lives in a trailer beneath a huge electrical transformer. Jerry believes the transformer-and the power company that owns it-is trying to melt his brain. He enlists the help of boyhood friend, Mike (Mos Def-real name Dante Terrell Smith- "Dave Chappell's Block Party," "16 Blocks"), who works in Mr. Fletcher's (Danny Glover) video-only store in Passaic, New Jersey, to sabotage the contraption.

There's really no back story on why these two people-seemingly polar opposites-are friends, and no demonstrative reason on earth why anyone would hang around the obviously demented and anti-social Jerry.

Mike, who has much more sense (but still talks like a dimwitted character from a "MAD TV" sketch), thinks better of this insane idea and takes off; leaving Jerry to get suspended in a cartoon-like electrical current and become magnetized.

This results in the erasure of every tape in Fletcher's establishment. This forces the two imbeciles to re-film (or "swede") such movies as "Ghostbusters," "Rush Hour 2," "The Lion King," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "RoboCop," and others.

Patrons at the store seem to like these productions better than the originals, despite the fact that Jack Black is the star of them and they are only about 20 minutes long.

Meanwhile, Fletcher-who has told Mike he was off on a week's celebration of the life of blues great, Fats Waller-is instead spying on another, more popular video outlet in an effort to increase his own sales. Another plot complication occurs when Sigourney Weaver appears as an uptight film studio lawyer demanding the two cretins cease and desist the impromptu film-making enterprise.

Facing millions of dollars in fines and hundreds of years in jail if they continue, the two meatheads decide to complete a black-and-white version of "Fats Waller Was Born in This Building in Passaic, New Jersey," which is duly finished and shown to the entire neighborhood. Mia Farrow ("Rosemary's Baby," "Broadway Danny Rose") also makes a small cameo as a woman who urges Fletcher to declare his building a national historical landmark.

Gondry tries to walk several lines here, he wants the film to be taken as a serious drama, a slapstick comedy, and a parody of popular cinema. He should have stuck to the latter category. When Jerry and Mike are making their ridiculous remakes, the movie shines with truly funny situations.

These scenes, however, are few and far between, as well as way too short (for example, the "Lion King" takeoff lasts only a minute or two). A tepid love story is thrown in between Mike and a local cleaner-turned-"actress," Alma (Melonie Diaz, "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints," "Lords of Dogtown") for no reason other than to throw a tepid love story into a movie like this.

Mos Def is fine in this picture; and despite his willingness to go along with the ludicrous antics of Jerry, he knows when to draw the line. Glover does a nice job, as well, torn between pleasing his customers, making himself happy and earning enough money to save his livelihood. His devotion to Fats Waller, while bordering on the obsessive, seems genuine and heartfelt.

Black has his moments, but continues to milk the crazy, wild-eyed lunatic that people in "reel" life think is cute and eccentric, but folks in "real" life would not tolerate for more than 15 minutes. He is rude to people in the store, a jerk to Mike and is a general nuisance to anyone he comes in contact with.

Overall, however, this is just interesting enough to check out. It's certainly nowhere near a perfect 10 movie (like so many reviews on this site seem to rate it-maybe the writers have never seen pictures like "Citizen Kane," "Casablanca," "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Godfather," "Raging Bull" or "GoodFellas," among others), but it has it's Jarmuschian charm.

And sometimes-especially in these dark cinematic times-that's good enough.

---

7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
The Purple Rose of Passaic, 2 March 2008

Author: Aluísio Parondi (nem.freud.explica@gmail.com) from South Burlington, Vermont, USA

Michel Gondry's new film is NO "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but it's better than "The Science of Sleep" and doesn't deserve the negative reviews it's been getting. Without Charlie Kaufman writing, Gondry's script might be a little less original, but his visual creativity (no one else knows how to make art out of cardboard boxes like him!) and passion for his story makes "Be Kind Rewind" some kind of special.

Mos Def and Jack Black work at Danny Glover's video store and, after Black gets "magnetized", he unintentionally turns every tape in the store blank. They have the brilliant idea of remaking the customers' favorite movies (from "Driving Miss Daisy" to "Last Tango in Paris"), and they suddenly become the local sensation. Some moments are very funny, others not so much, but this is not supposed to be a Farrelly Bros. kind of flick. With a simple but very compelling idea, Gondry created a story about people's love for movies, the sense of community, the compulsion for memories, the oblivion of old-time artists (the Fats Waller subplot) and old-fashioned technology (should Glover finally adhere to DVDs?). Gondry said in an interview: "I am not against modern things. I use technology, but what I am against is when the technology creates a system that makes you believe you need to use it". I couldn't agree more. By the end, even though not being a masterpiece like "Eternal Sunshine", "Be Kind Rewind" leaves you with the bittersweet feeling of other movies about our love for film-making, more notably "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (by the way, Mia Farrow plays the video store's most loyal customer) and "Cinema Paradiso". Definitely worth seeing. 8/10.

---

30 out of 56 people found the following comment useful :-
Another enjoyable and thought-provoking film by Jack Black, 23 February 2008

Author: Edward Grabczewski from London, England

Looking at the existing comments you might be forgiven for wondering why over 500 people have given this a 10 out of 10 rating. To date, none of those have commented on the movie apart from me.

For me, Jack Black has appeared in three films that have unexpectedly made me think: School of Rock, Shallow Hal and this one. All these films seem to have a genuine sense of fun, particularly where children are involved, yet have a deeper message that lingers as an uncomfortable question in the back of my mind long after the film has ended: School of Rock about the nature of teaching, Shallow Hal about our perception of beauty and Be Kind Rewind about communities and film-making. I have found no answers to any of the questions posed by these films.

I easily managed to suspend my disbelief for two hours and found this movie genuinely funny and touching all at the same time. As a moviemaker myself this film reminded me that great movies are made by people who love them (e.g. Somewhere in Time, The Sting) and they're made for the audience of that time and place. It's not about realism, it's about loving the story. This film reminded me that communities are broken up in the name of progress, which gives the film a rather melancholy feel towards the end. But most of all it reminded me of the fun we have in making short films and the excitement you feel when you see the product of your own efforts.

Great acting by all - without exception. And what a nice touch to rejuvenate the memory of Fats Waller.

---

---

Page 1 of 9:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	Newsgroup reviews
External reviews	Parents Guide	Official site
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user comments
Your vote history