By Sara Pintilie/entertainment editor
Be Kind Rewind (4 stars)
Director Michael Gondry’s (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep) universe is never dull.
He takes a lovable loser, surrounds him with a quirky supporting cast and laces a hint of something extraordinary throughout his unique storylines.
His films are gorgeous and heartfelt, and Be Kind Rewind is no different.
Mos Def’s Mike replaces Jim Carrey’s Joel and Gael Bernal Garcia’s Stephane as the awkward protagonist.
When the owner of a dilapidated video store, Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover), leaves on a quest to save the store, he leaves Mike in charge.
All is well until Mike’s magnetized best friend, Jerry (Jack Black), erases all the tapes.
Mike scrambles to fix the problem before Mr. Fletcher finds out.
But the store’s most loyal and slightly demented customer, Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow), wants to rentGhostbusters or she will call Mr. Fletcher.
To appease her, the pair set out to recreate the film.
They use everything from aluminum foil to pink garland as they ambush librarians to make their movie in less than two hours.
But to their surprise, their make-shift videos become insanely popular and people start lining up around the corner.
Mike and Jerry turn their amateur filmmaking into an enterprise to save the store from falling victim to demolition cranes.
They recreate such films as King Kong, Driving Miss Daisy and Boyz in the Hood with makeshift props and ingenuity. The end result is hilarious.
The problem with this film arrives when the story switches from a slapstick, whimsical comedy to a heartwarming underdog tale.
In the transition, the plot gets garbled, and a lot of the substance is lost.
The whole Fats Waller story arc doesn’t hold its weight and seems like an underdeveloped solution for an ending.
The movie doesn’t lack heart by any means, but without a driving plot, the audience isn’t as attached to characters as they could be.
Def’s Mike is meek. He almost gets lost in the shadow of Black’s antics, but Def’s charm is undeniable.
Black is funny as Jerry and offsets Def’s easy-going attitude fantastically.
Though the plot isn’t as strong as it could be, Be Kind Rewind is a visual feat with an A for effort.
