Throwback Thursday: Be Kind, Rewind

Be Kind Rewind

Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Melonie Diaz, and Mia Farrow
Released: 2008
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes

This week's Throwback Thursday was inspired by the word that a Robocop remake is in the works. Be Kind, Rewind is about Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) and his video rental shop. Yes, in the age of DVDs Mr. Fletcher manages to keep VHS alive for the few residents of Passaic, New Jersey who still haven't seen Ghostbusters or Driving Miss Daisy. One week Fletcher leaves the shop in the care of his foster son Mike (Mos Def) who takes the responsibility very seriously. Mike's oddball friend Jerry (Jack Black) gets magnetized in a botched power station sabotage attempt and the next time he visits Be Kind Rewind he erases every single tape in the store. With the slightly dotty Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) on the watch (and wanting to rent movies) Mike and Jerry decide to cover up the accident by remaking all the movies themselves. And it works, until their "Sweded" movies become so popular they can't keep up with demand!

The first half of this movie is utterly fantastic. I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed that much at a movie on the first viewing (except maybe Planes, Trains, and Automobiles) when I had - you guessed it - rented this from Blockbuster. I almost wished it was available on VHS just to keep with the theme. Mike and Jerry's remakes of Ghostbusters, Robocop, Driving Miss Daisy, Rush Hour and more are so hilariously amateur that they're more entertaining than the originals. Hence their success with renters! Jack Black shines as Jerry with his ability to make every line seem like a natural conversation and not a script and Mos Def is endearing as the earnest straight-man Mike in this buddy comedy about movies and movie culture.

The second half is not as comedic but writer and director Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) manages to progress from comedy to the feel-good "drama" at the heart of the film.  Be Kind Rewind is the heart of the community and by extension so too are the movies it shares with  the people. I won't spoil the ending but I will share with you some of the laughs of Robocop: Sweded.