I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I had heard that it wasn’t actually that great, and so I wasn’t expecting that much. I was pretty much watching it for the “sweded” movies that they did, and was assuming the plot and non-movie-bits of it would be your typical Jack Black insanity which is often funny but not always. And yes, there was that, but it was also just, as most people I have talked to have said, sweet.
The main characters in this story don’t come out victorious against the man, they just go out with style. There is a hint of a love story, but that takes up all of one scene and is never mentioned again. There isn’t even much of a villain in this movie, except for the rights violation lawyers—even the developer who wants to get rid of the old video store they work at is thrilled at the end of the movie (not enough, of course, to stop the demolition, but still…) Everyone else is nice, and everyone in the town gets involved (including, I’m assuming, a lot of the actual residents of Passaic, New Jersey).
And of course there are the sweded movies. Which, despite the niceness of the actual movie, and the characters, and the script, and so on, are really the reason I think everyone sees this movie. These are incredibly low-budget short versions of famous movies that the two main characters are forced to make because Jack Black accidentally erases all the VHS tapes in the store. And they’re hilarious, whether or not you’ve seen the originals (although much more so if you have). The first, and I think the one they show the most of, is Ghostbusters, which, with it’s Christmas tinsel for laser beams and action figure Pillsbury doughboy, is also probably the best (most likely because, as I said, they show the most of it). But the best scene in the movie is I think the brief montage showing Jack Black and Mos Def walking from one “set” to another, taking part in 2001, MIB, and all sorts of movies in one flowing shot. It’s typical Michael Gondry (whose style shows up the most in the film about Fats Waller that is shown at the end of the movie), and it’s a lot of fun.
I guess you could say this movie is all about people exceeding expectations of them—Black and Def (can you refer to him by his last name?) show that they are worth something, that they can create something great, and win the affection of the town rather than just being Clerks-type employees. And so, the movie is like the moral! But that’s really a stretch. It’s a friendly movie, and pretty much a vehicle for the odd pairing of Gondry and Black and Def, but that’s a good thing. It could have been funnier in parts, but as I said, it was much more than I expected. My only real qualm (and perhaps this is just my poor internet abilities) is that the website mentioned in the end credits, which supposedly contained full versions of all the sweded movies, did not exist (or no longer existed when I looked). If this has moved, and someone knows where it is, please let me know!
Tags: be kind rewind, film, jack black, michael gondry, mos def, movie, review
