mad about movies: blog 
mad about movies' blog
be kind rewind - review
by TidbitPublished Jun. 27, 2008
About the film:
This movie was released originally in Feb ’08. Not that I was able to catch it, it moved through so fast.
The film, directed by a very talented Michael Gondry, is about a young man named Jerry, played by Jack Black, who is trying to sabotage a local power plant. After a change of heart, Jerry’s friend Mike, played by Mos Def , leaves Jerry alone to complete the sabotage mission and in the process is electrocuted and becomes magnetized.
Elroy (Danny Glover), owns a local video shop that is WAY far behind the times, renting out VHS tapes $1. He is about to be evicted by the city to make way for “new and better” condos to improve the area. Elroy leaves Mike in charge of the store and heads out to do research on how to improve his place in an attempt to keep it.
Thus the real story begins. Because of Jerry’s magnetic state, upon entering the store, erases every single VHS tape. Elroy’s friend and good customer, Miss Flaewicz (Mia Farrow), catches Mike and Jerry freaking out with tapes scattered everywhere. She tells them that she wants a specific movie and that they had better clean things up or she’s telling Elroy and she’ll be back to pick up the movie that evening. Mike and Jerry begin re-filming the different movies to try to cover their tracks.
Review:
In sum total, this is the first movie in a while that has made me actually laugh out loud. I was clapping and laughing periodically all through the film. There is one scene where they are “re-filming” Rush Hour 2 that I am STILL giggling about this morning. Not to mention a scene from the “re-filming" of The Hood that still has my husband laughing out loud.
But the storyline itself is a little flat. It is almost as if there is an underlying attempt to start subplots with the characters, but the characters themselves never actually get fleshed out. I could never tell if Jerry was suppose to just be stupid or some type of mentally handicapped individual. It sounded like Elroy raised Mike, but it never really came out and discussed their relationship, other than a few comments like Elroy was not Mike’s real father and Elroy’s opinion of Mike was VERY important to Mike. Then there is the constant presence of “the mechanic” that I never quite get, though he becomes the first to have roles in the re-recoding of the films.
All in all this is definitely a movie worth seeing from the creative filmmaking and comedy factor. Even if Jack Black tends to annoy you (as he has done for me in previous film – excluding The Holiday), it is easy to get past it in this film.
I give it 3.5 out of 5. I was happy to have the laughs.
close1 Comment
(2 votes) michelle obama rallies hispanic caucus
(2 votes) immigration agency vows more enforcement
Welcome to GOLO, where WRAL.com visitors can comment on stories and create profile pages, blogs and photo galleries.
You must be a registered WRAL.com user to use these tools. Click here to register or log in.
Thanks for the review!!!!
GOLO member since October 17, 2007
June 27, 2008 9:40 a.m.
Please log in to add comment.