I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited before going to see this movie. By all means it looked stupendous. Unfortunately, I’d also be lying if I said it lived up to expectations.
“Be Kind, Rewind,” the latest movie by Michel Gondry, follows the story of Mike, an employee at an old VHS rental store who, after having the inventory of the store wiped out by his eccentric, magnetized friend Jerry, decides to simply remake all of the classics contained within the store.
While the idea behind the movie seems to be inventive to the point where box office success seems inevitable, the execution of the movie falls flat.
The scenes of the movie by themselves seemed very polished and well done, but the movie as a whole seemed a bit unfocused and inconsistent.
The feeling and mood presented at the beginning of the movie doesn’t seem like the feeling and mood in the middle, which seemed different from the feeling and mood presented at the end.
The main reason this movie did not seem to perform quite up to standards was due to some directing decisions that may have been unwise, which is a shame because Gondry is usually an expert at directing films and shorts that may be viewed as offbeat.
Gondry has past moviemaking experience as the creative engine behind the breakaway hit “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and also several music videos for artists such as Beck and The White Stripes.
But his ability might have fallen short for “Be Kind, Rewind,” and while his creativity still shined through, the overall coherency of the movie suffered in the end.
The remaining aspects of the movie were fine, however.
Acting was above par. Jack Black and Mos Def playing the two main characters proved to be quite the duo, and worked together spectacularly bouncing dialogue off each other. Black, in particular, continues to amaze with his ability at improvisation.
The cinematography was great as well, and at least Gondry was able to present his work in a way that allowed his knack for the artistic to be evident.
I did find the music of the film to be slightly lacking.
Considering the director was Gondry, a man who has spent most of his career directing and designing music videos for remarkable artists, and the two main stars were Jack Black and Mos Def, musicians in their own right, the music simply did not stand up to what it could have been.
Altogether, “Be Kind, Rewind” was not a bad film. It was enjoyable and funny at best and downright strange at worst.
But if you come into this film expecting a dynamic movie that is guaranteed to be a new classic, it’s not.