adonis98-743-186503 Two bumbling store clerks inadvertently erase the footage from all of the tapes in their video rental store. In order to keep the business running, they re-shoot every film in the store with their own camera, with a budget of zero dollars. Despite some good intentions and Black's and Def's chemistry and perfomances 'Be Kind Rewind' showcases how bad it is to remake certain films when on the same time it's humor never lands and the overall pacing is terrible. Overall a disappointing film that doesn't hold up that well as i remembered. (4.5/10)

cfish-4 The only redeemable value of this film is a bit of history about Fats Waller, the Jazz great.The rest of the film is simply Jack Blackmaking his face. I got tired of his clown face in about 2 minutes, andI did not laugh. Not even a chuckle. If you want to be tortured by JackBlack's constant idiotic fake smiley face, go ahead and watch thisfilm. I, for one, am glad I fast forwarded most of it.The only reason I'm writing this review is because I am really upset after watching it.

eric262003 Michel Gondry came up with a rather original plot based on facets of creating your videos in the 2008 comedy romp "Be Kind Rewind". The art and skill of DIY films have never looked hotter and Jack Black and Mos Def make this complex task look so easy and fun, I'm sure everyone will be entertained for the next couple of hours. The central plot of the story is about an inept imbecile named Jerry McLean (Black) who becomes magnetized unintentionally expunges all the VHS tapes at a waning video store where his best friend Mike Coolwell (Mos Def) works. To repair the predicament they are in, the duo arbitrarily makes remakes by using themselves and slapdash special effects to they call "Sweding".What comes as shocker is that their moneyless remakes are instant success and that helps the video climb out of a funk. There are other subplots this film is featured that are both good and bad. The weak points are that the film tries hard to cram a lot of issues, but the issues are too much to handle in such little time. Aside from the subject of Sweding, "Be Kind Rewind" concentrates on the financially injured city of Passaic, New Jersey (Detroit's not the only city that is financially injured)and the melting pot of cultural diversity that populates the city. There's also a subplot about a Fats Waller movie in which Jerry, Mike and the neighbourhood collaborate to make due to legal issues. The effort by Gondry is all there, but at times it is way too cramped and some of the material was not completely finished. The remake scenes were not the primary focus of the movie in spite of the title or the sleeve of the movie makes you want to believe. But the scenes involving the Sweding are the best scenes in the movie, especially when half a dozen films get Sweded in one shot. The film succeeds in making the art of Sweding a fun, resourceful and crafty approach to any aspiring filmmaker who lacks in budget, props, costumes and performers and can turn into an overnight success story. It is not hyperbole, it has been done before. If you have what little you can come up with and have that dream about making movies, this film might surprisingly come in handy. Jack Black is in fine comedic tune much like his role in "High Fidelity" and Mos Def may come across as a fool, but his chemistry with Black is quite good as they play off each other quite nicely. Def is quite effective as a performer, but his music is still his main asset. Veteran performers like Danny Glover and Mia Farrow turn in some riveting supporting performances as is Melonie Diaz. Sigourney Weaver also has a cameo here that fit in with the story. Overall a very satisfying story! It was a bit choppy and padded in some areas. In spite of the few awkward moments, it is a very easy flowing story and I highly would recommend this movie to those who love to be entertained.

noahsmyth98 This film intrigued me from the moment I heard of it. I am a huge movie fan with a library of movie knowledge and the idea that the hit-and-miss same-old-same-old Jack Black was going to play part in low-budget recreations of classics, I had to find out how the film was done.The movie opens up with an old vintage film of Fats Waller, the old jazz singer who constantly surfaces as a theme and inspiration in this film, who explains his involvement in the town of Harlem (so it seems). The film emerges several times in the film.Jack Black plays Jerry, an out-of-work bum who lives in an old RV. When he sets out to immaturely and ridiculously shut down the power plant he lives next to to avoid headaches, he unscientifically accurately manages to conduct magnetism and sabotages the tapes in the store his friend Mike works in. Mike, promised to care for the dying store in the digital era, is furious and in a pursuit to not let his few customers down prepares with friend to 'swede' classic movies on demand into low- budget homemade films with humorous results.Much of the comedy is relied on you that you are a huge Jack Black fan or that you have a good standing knowledge of the eight or nine movies you see them recreate. The customers act in opposite to outrage but soar into the store to demand more movies recreated.The movie has some good elements in it. As Mike and Jerry are being eaten alive by copyright supporters who destroy all of their efforts by an unnecessary bulldozer, the movie manages to float in the theme that 'big and corporate giants' are very greedy and almost barbaric and that sometimes people want something they can relate to (or even see themselves in)Apart from the thirty second romance scene between Mike and his hired assistant producer, this film is not half bad. Entertaining.