By Mercedes Diaz DeLeon
(New Line Cinema)
By Mercedes Diaz DeLeon
This story takes place in Passaic, New Jersey where the aged and diminutive “Be Kind Rewind” video store is located.
The video store, which is still clinging to the past in a time where DVD’s are the most common and popular way of viewing motion pictures, is equipped with only VHS cassettes.
Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover), who is the sole owner of the video store, decides to take some time off in order to commemorate Phats death, and find innovative and new ways to increase profit and prevent his store from relocating to the projects.
He leaves his store clerk Mike (Mos Def) in charge, who’s friend Jerry (Jack Black) accidentally erases all the videos in the store due to being magnetized by the power plant near his home.
In an attempt to keep Mr. Fletcher’s business running smoothly without any problems, Mike and Jerry improvise by re-shooting the erased videos themselves using no more than a camcorder, homemade visual effects, and eventually members of the community.
What was meant to be pure improvising in order to keep customers from taking their business elsewhere, turned out to be a triumphant success that attracted customers from other states including New York.
Soon, there became a high demand for “sweded” videos, which is a term Mike and Jerry invented that refers to their homemade re-shot movies.
It is exceptionally entertaining how Mike and Jerry shoot their twenty minute homemade videos of classics like “The Lion King,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Rush Hour 2,” and “Ghostbusters.”
Mike and Jerry’s versions of the various well known classics and comedies are what entertain audiences, and give the movie nearly all its humor.
Jack Black humorously overacts his role as he does in “Nacho Libre,” and “School of Rock” making the movie utterly unpredictable and exceeding viewer’s expectations.
He does an outstanding and magnificent job in getting into character and turning a simple role from a simple movie into something wildly entertaining and amusing.
Mos Def is a bit of a disappointment since he failed to have fun with his role, and played no more than a useless side kick for Jerry.
Mos Def’s performance was dull and simple, most likely as initially intended, but he could have taken extra steps in captivating and fascinating his audience.
It is of no importance because Jack Black is the central contributor to the movie’s ensemble, despite having an effortless role.
Although having landed a small role, Danny Glover manages to execute a performance that greatly contributes to the movie’s reality.
Michel Gondry’s homemade visual effects are innovative and creative which is a pleasant change from the top quality, overly exaggerated visual effects that are present in movies created in today’s generation.
The fact that it was created intentionally corny and underdeveloped makes it so unique and hilarious.
The only thing that keeps the movie from being entirely comical is the ending which was sentimental for the sequence of events and the movie’s simplicity.
“Be Kind Rewind” is a highly corny, comical movie that is either hated or loved depending on the level of a viewer’s sense of humor.
