Shawn's Be Kind Rewind Review

2008 Movie #26 - Be Kind Rewind

I somehow overlooked this movie when I was predicting the best movies of the month. I've been excited for this movie for quite some time now. It's been delayed a few times which is always cause for concern and I started to get worried that maybe this movie was going to be terrible. After seeing it, that's certainly not the case but I can definitely see a lot of people feeling otherwise. This is the absolute definition of a love it or hate it kind of movie.

First off, this is not the movie you're expecting. I pretty much guarantee it. The premise and trailer make the whole thing like it's going to be a wakcy comedy about two guys recreating a bunch of movies. The fact is, it's not really a wacky comedy at all. Also, the scenes of them actually filming the movie remakes take up a very small percentage of the actual movie. The scenes they show are definitely funny (with the Ghostbusters remake being the highlight I would say) but they don't receive nearly as large a focus in the movie as you are probably expecting.

However, that doesn't hurt the movie. I'll admit those are the movies best scenes but the rest of it is always consistently enjoyable. It's a hard movie to really explain except that it's just...likable. It's never really laugh out loud funny, hell oftentimes it's not even that funny at all, but I was never not enjoying it. I felt out right good watching this movie. It just leaves you smiling and really, REALLY, wanting to grab your friends and a camera and shoot some of your own amateur movies....the wholesome kind, not porn. Well porn if you want I guess, probably mor emoney in that anyway.

Jack Black is actually very restrained in this role, only occasionally breaking loose and doing his typical thing. Mos Def is a good counterpoint to him, although I've always been a fan of Mos Def anyway. Danny Glover, Mia Farrow and others also do well in their roles.

The whole thing is generally a celebration of film and a reminder of just why we love movies in the first place. I can't flat out recommend this movie because I know a lot of people will not only dislike it, but violently despise it. I for one however, was pleasantly surprised with a movie that turned out nothing like I was expecting it to.

****/5