Be Kind Rewind
2008
**
Director: Michel Gondry
Cast: Jack Black, Mos Def, Melonie Diaz, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Arjay Smith, Quinton Aaron
Mr. Fletcher leaves Mike and Jerry in charge of his VHS rental store in a run-down building which faces demolition. When these two nimwits accidentally erase all the tapes, they are in a race against time to remake the lost movies. Ironically, their versions become cult items which could actually save the old man's store. The premise is cute but incredibly contrived, and although the film is sweet, it's frustratingly unfunny. The people of Passaic, New Jersey have either succumbed to nostalgia invented by Michel Gondry or they are some of the simplest folks on the planet. In any case, this sentimental fable wouldn't be plausible even if it was set in the heyday of video rental. Gondry is known for his visual imagination and love of old school in-camera effects, of which The Science of Sleep is a fine example. Mike and Jerry's reenactments of classics like Ghostbusters, Robocop and 2001: A Space Odyssey are inventively visualised but rarely amusing. The performances don't help either; Jack Black is irritatingly manic and Mos Def is simply wooden.
