Be Kind Rewind UK Review

Jack Black comedy only occasionally funny.

What a shame. This could have been an anarchic comedy classic, but in the end Be Kind Rewind only occasionally lives up to the potential of its premise.

The film revolves around a pair of buddies from the run-down New Jersey town of Passaic - Mike (Mos Def), who helps his boss run a VHS-only video rental store, and Jerry (Jack Black), a junk yard worker convinced the local power plant is causing his headaches. However, when he decides to sabotage the plant, he inadvertently causes his brain to become magnetised, wiping all the shop tapes in the process.

In order to keep the store's one loyal customer happy (a flaky elderly lady played by Mia Farrow), the pair re-create a long line of films including The Lion King, Rush Hour, Ghostbusters and Robocop, casting themselves and the local townspeople in their projects and becoming local celebrities in the process.

Jerry and Mike reshoot Ghostbusters.

These scenes in which they reshoot famous movies - called sweding becasue they claim their versions are imported from Sweden - are by far the funniest and most inventive of the film. Their efforst are shambolic and amateurish, but also full of ingenious low-tech creativity that makes a mockery of recent generic Hollywood fare. Gondry seems to have most fun replicating CGI with home-made effects, and the recreation of Ghostbusters, with tinsel on sticks replacing energy from proton packs, is particularly amusing.

They are helped immeasurably by the odd couple pairing of Black and Def, with the latter's understated mumbling perfectly complimenting the former's hysterical over-acting. The duo are 'so-bad-their-good', and you can perfectly understand why the locals soon start queuing up to watch them in action.

Unfortunately, when the gang aren't sweding films, the film seriously sags, with the other plotlines far less amusing or engaging. Much time is devoted to absent video store-owner Mr. Fletcher (Lethal Weapon's Danny Glover), who goes on a 'fact-finding trip' to research huge chain stores in an attempt to make his own outfit more profitable.

Black as a slightly less-toned Muhammad Ali from When We Were Kings.

There's also the conclusion to the film, where the townsfolk get together to make a home-made film about the life of local jazz legend 'Fats' Waller. Both storylines are obviously included to reflect director Gondry's twin interests in Jazz and independent film-making, but they're not interesting, profound or funny enough to be worth so much of the film's running time.

The director has attempted to construct quite a complex little film here, but only parts of this delicate concoction work effectively. The movie feels like a strange, lightweight piece of ephemeral fluff, punctuated only intermittently by moments of genuine comedy genius.

Indeed, these moments - the sweded films - could easily have been released online in 3 minute bite-size morsels, and been just as effective without the accompanying 80 minutes of plot. Maybe that's not that surprising when the director is just as famous for his music videos.

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