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Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry)
This is a sweet movie with a sincerity most "comedies" these days just don't have. I enjoyed it, though I wish it had either been funnier or a little deeper. The wacky set-up with Jack Black's character becoming magnetized is very silly - sillier and different in tone than anything else in the movie. But it's a device, and once the dying videostore's tapes are all erased it's very charming watching them find the solution. The no-budget but clever half-remembered recreations of the Hollywood classics are of course right in Gondry's wheelhouse and he has a special kind of construction paper, cut & paste genius that is like Terry Gilliam by way of a middle school talent show (and I mean that as a compliment). The heart and soul of Be Kind Rewind is not those funny mini-movies but the spirit of community and the collective ownership and even authorship of our past, both communal and personal. Plus it captures the pure joy of filmmaking at its most unfiltered level, the kind of fun you have making movies with your friends and relatives when you're twelve with the family camcorder.
But while it's all very sweet and the movie recreation scenes are a hoot and a half, it constantly feels like it could have been even more. But maybe just like the videomakers in the story this is all Gondry was capable of? I do like it, but I wanted to love it and there just wasn't enough there there.
I am a big fan of Jack Black and while I thought he took a big step forward with his role in Margot at the Wedding this is right back to things he can do in his sleep. And if you can erase the horrible acting choices he made in 16 Blocks, Mos Def is always likable on screen. Danny Glover and Mia Farrow have fun with their little parts, though they don't have to strain too much, and Melonie Diaz is terrific as the neighborhood girl they recruit to help them in their cinematic endeavors. I wanted it to be a masterpiece but it's just a good little movie instead.
GRADE: B-
Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry)
This is a sweet movie with a sincerity most "comedies" these days just don't have. I enjoyed it, though I wish it had either been funnier or a little deeper. The wacky set-up with Jack Black's character becoming magnetized is very silly - sillier and different in tone than anything else in the movie. But it's a device, and once the dying videostore's tapes are all erased it's very charming watching them find the solution. The no-budget but clever half-remembered recreations of the Hollywood classics are of course right in Gondry's wheelhouse and he has a special kind of construction paper, cut & paste genius that is like Terry Gilliam by way of a middle school talent show (and I mean that as a compliment). The heart and soul of Be Kind Rewind is not those funny mini-movies but the spirit of community and the collective ownership and even authorship of our past, both communal and personal. Plus it captures the pure joy of filmmaking at its most unfiltered level, the kind of fun you have making movies with your friends and relatives when you're twelve with the family camcorder.
But while it's all very sweet and the movie recreation scenes are a hoot and a half, it constantly feels like it could have been even more. But maybe just like the videomakers in the story this is all Gondry was capable of? I do like it, but I wanted to love it and there just wasn't enough there there.
I am a big fan of Jack Black and while I thought he took a big step forward with his role in Margot at the Wedding this is right back to things he can do in his sleep. And if you can erase the horrible acting choices he made in 16 Blocks, Mos Def is always likable on screen. Danny Glover and Mia Farrow have fun with their little parts, though they don't have to strain too much, and Melonie Diaz is terrific as the neighborhood girl they recruit to help them in their cinematic endeavors. I wanted it to be a masterpiece but it's just a good little movie instead.
GRADE: B-