Be Kind Rewind [2007] - Pathe Distribution

Clunk!!!

I enjoyed School of Rock, it wasn't that well balanced, but the low points were made up for by the good bits (well, the stage dive at the beginning). I saw Nacho Libre on a flight to North Carolina, and I thought it stank, but everyone can get the odd thing wrong. I enjoyed Tenacious D's videos.

I saw the trailers for `Be Kind Rewind' and really enjoyed the idea of a couple of amateurs creating fake copies of films which had been destroyed; I was happy to buy the notion of Jack Black becoming magnetized and hence wiping the tapes ... it's sort of the same as X-Men and an amusing conceit as an introduction to some witty, amusing stuff with the expectation of conceits and exposure of continuity / scientific / plot errors or something in other films (the Wallace and Gromit `Aliens 2' reference on the Christmas Day TV show, for example I found humorous, clever, relevant, intelligently introduced etc.).

After 20 minutes, I had not cracked a smile. The first 15 had made the most dense of gang dialogue in `The Wire' sound like Richard Burton in `Under Milkwood':

"Mumbledygrunt"
"Grundlegrunt"
"Huh? Grumfgrundle"
"Yuh grumtgruntle"

Then it got a bit clearer. But worse. I'm happy to watch a couple of guys make films with almost no actors. If you want to see this sort of thing done well (by Americans) try the Reduced Shakespeare Company, you get all of the plays (except one) in a frantic, but clear, compressed, but recognisable cartoon-precis lasting just a few minutes. It's clever; they spot things that stick in the mind and use them with wit and sharpness.

Not only does this film show dull films - `Driving Miss Daisy' - did anyone watch that? - but it misses the salient and distinctive points of the films it pretends to show - Ghostbusters was epitomised by Bill Murray's brilliant lazy lechery, not by the cheesy technology.

This film fails in so many ways it's hard to come up with anything redeeming. The acting is bad, Black and Mos Def are useless; does anyone care about where an old jazz musician was born - maybe if there had been a collection of his manuscripts written on the back of the wallpaper it might have been interesting - the "story" doesn't carry anything. The characters are entirely unsympathetic, the production is cheap and incompetent.

Looks like Jack Black is turning into Jim Carrie. What a pity.

Dumber and dumbest

Awful. Awful. Awful.

There, I've said it. This is a turkey - which I suppose is suitable given that I've been watching it in the runup to Christmas.

As others have said, it's a film that's based on a good idea - two guys cover their backs by quickly filming their versions of big box-office hit. However, the fact that the soundtrack is almost incomprehensible for the first twenty minutes gets the film off to a bad start: it's full of Brandoesque muttering, voices cutting over each other, music that's badly balanced... it's a technique that can work well - see almost any episode of Hill Street Blues for proof - but here it's just annoying.

So, on to the story. Jack Black is a bit of a nutter who's friends with a young guy working in a video rental store (what is it with Black and small stores, anyway?) and for reasons that are too boring to go into, he ends up magnetic and wipes every video in the store.

So of course every time someone wants to borrow a video, they have to film it.

That's all you need to know. Apart from these few facts:

1) It's badly filmed - and there's a nasty jumpcut about halfway through that should have been sorted out by the editor. In fact, it's as bad as the films that our heroes make, and that's saying something,

2) It's badly acted and totally unbelievable (yes, I know, but there has to be some suspension of disbelief in this kind of film). Black overacts and hams it up, while his pal is relaxed almost to the point of catatonia for most of the film.

3) It's badly scripted (as far as I could make out through the awful audio track). Although Black's measnt to be dim - perhaps an Asperger's
sufferer? - there's a moment when he ambles in still wearing his Ghostbuster's costume that defies belief.

There is a good film to be made out of this sorfry mess, but this ain't it. There's not a laugh to be had throughout. It may appeal to fans of Dumb and Dumber, or possibly Ace Ventura, but I think even those fans may struggle to get anything out of it. If you're planning to have turkey this Xmas, make sure it's not this one.

good film

I enjoyed this movie - its different and nostalgic and has some funny bits to it. Worth the watch as the swedened are funny!

Pretty lame and awful

I'd been toying with the idea of buying this movie for a while now - but part of me felt the plot was just too silly to work. But when the the price tag hit the £5 mark I bought it, yeah!! But BIG mistake! This film is bad. It limps along slowly and awkwardly, and the storlyline IS INDEED too far-fetched to work. Maybe an ok movie for kids, and for those who like this sort of thing, but best avoided by everyone else ..or else rent it from your library first.

creative and funny.

Quite simply this is a very original, creative and funny film and as such is a refreshing break from most American comedy. Michel Gondry is a very special director who relishes quirky ideas and creative visual effects that are usually achieved using everyday, mundane items. The visual creativity and comic whit in this film is endearing and everyone I know who has seen it really enjoyed it. I find it hard to understand how people couldn't enjoy this film.