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SUMMARY:
Mike (Mos Def) is left to
take care of business at the failing neighborhood video store by his
employer, Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). His only instruction...not to let
his friend Jerry (Jack Black) into the store. But when Jerry’s body gets
magnetized and he does enter the store, he erases the entire inventory
of movies. So Jerry and Mike decide to replace them with home-made video
versions.
STEVE SAYS:
Where, o where do I begin
to dissect this well-meaning mess of a movie? Well, let’s start with the
premise. Mike and Jerry actually believe no one will notice that hit
movies like GHOSTBUSTERS, RUSH HOUR 2 and DRIVING MISS DAISY are now
only about 20 minutes long, shot poorly on home video...and all are
starring Mike and Jerry. Impossible to believe? You got it. But, as it
turns out, we don’t have to believe that because anyone who rents these movies knows they aren’t the real deal but loves
them nonetheless. That’s “Impossible to Believe, Part Deux.” Not only
does the entire neighborhood love these shoddy remakes, but people are
driving all the way from New York City to Passaic, New Jersey in order
to rent them. Yeah, right.
Also impossible to believe is that Jerry, after tangling with an
electrical power plant, now has a magnetic body that is routinely pulled
into chain link fences or light poles and, of course, has the ability to
erase an entire video store full of video tapes.
Then there is the matter of Mr. Fletcher warning Mike not to let Jerry
into the store. Since his body has yet to undergo this implausible
change, how does Fletcher know that Jerry poses a threat to the tapes?
He hangs out in the store all the time and has never caused a problem.
So from whence does Fletcher’s ability to forecast the future come?
Want more “impossible to believes?” How about that Mr. Fletcher, owner
and operator of a video store, somehow missed the fact that VHS tapes
were pretty much supplanted by DVDs around eight to nine years ago? Some
video stores might still carry both formats, but most have simply
eliminated VHS altogether and moved on. I think this plot point might
have resulted from this movie being trapped in development hell for far
too long.
The process of shooting slipshod versions of successful films is
referred to here as “sweding.” To be fair to the filmmakers, this term
is explained at some point in the film. Sadly, it happened at a moment
when I was nodding off, so I never got just why it was called that. I
should also add that I don’t normally fall asleep during films. I think
my brain caused this to happen as a defense mechanism to shut out the
sounds and images that continuously made my jaw drop.
BE KIND REWIND causes me to give pause and reflect on what has happened
to the man who co-wrote and directed the brilliant ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF
THE SPOTLESS MIND? This film is so incompetent that it indeed might have
been created by the hapless Mike and Jerry.
The inept nature of the storyline isn’t helped at all by the fact that
we are shamelessly manipulated toward the moment of what is supposed to
be a heart-tugging experience when Mike, Jerry, Mr. Fletcher and the
entire neighborhood participate in a faux documentary on the life of
jazz great Fats Waller, whom Fletcher claims was born upstairs from his
store. It all falls flatter than Twiggy in her prime.
As if to further ignore any connection to reality or believability, we
see that the first film that Mike and
Jack “swede” is GHOSTBUSTERS. Then, lo and behold, who should appear
later as an attorney for the studios but Sigourney Weaver, the co-star
of that very same GHOSTBUSTERS. I was just waiting for Mike or Jerry to
say, “Hey would you like to help us “swede” ALIEN? You look just like
Ripley.”
I supposed I have only myself to blame for having to sit through and
hour and forty minutes of this celluloid mush. I knew I wasn’t going to
buy into the story from having seen the preview. Nevertheless, I’m a
sucker for Jack Black, who isn’t particularly funny or interesting in BE
KIND REWIND. I also thought, since it was Michel Gondry at the helm, he
would somehow make it all work. Sadly, he didn’t. And so, as I shake my
head in wonder at some of the positive reviews this movie is getting, I
muse that perhaps I have stayed too long at the fair. This emperor is
as naked as a jaybird.
* * * *
February 28, 2008 |
