Be Kind Rewind

Be Kind Rewind 2008

• Director: Michel Gondry
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Jack Black, Mos Def (Yaslin Bey), Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Melanie Diaz
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jack Black – Margo at the Wedding, The Holiday, King Kong, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks!, Dead Man Walking, The X Files, Tenacious D
• Mos Def – Cadillac Records, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Monster’s Ball
• Danny Glover – Honeydripper, Dreamgirls, Manderlay, The Royal Tenenbaums, Beloved, Lethal Weapon, Bopha!, The Colour Purple, Silverado
• Mia Farrow – John and Mary, Rosemary’s Baby
• Melanie Diax – nothing, but I’d like to
• Why?  Enjoyed it the first time
• Seen:  Once before, when it came out, at the cinema. Now, 4 August 2019

 Mike (Def) and Jerry (Black) take over for Mr Fletcher (Glover) in his video shop while he’s away. Unfortunately, Mike is not totally smart, and Jerry is not totally sane and through wild complications Jerry manages to demagnetise all the VHS tapes in the shop.

There’s only one way to rescue the merchandise. Mike and Jerry must refilm the films, starring themselves. Ghostbusters. Rush Hour 2. The Lion King. Driving Miss Daisy. 2001 A Space Odyssey.

For being such a silly idea it’s very entertaining. Mostly thanks to Def and Black. And the Sweden jokes (have your films been Sweded???)

This is bizarre and absolutely loveable. It loses momentum towards the end, but we enjoyed it just as much this time.

4* of 5 (Hal gives it 5 and he might be right.)