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There’s something about actor Jack Black that reminds me of Bill Murray. Both have a proven track record of not only delivering frantic, off-the-wall comedic routines but also have equally proven their mettle in dramatic roles as well. There’s also something a bit… well, sly about them. They’re both obviously witty and clever and yet they can play dumb and dimwitted like the best of them. I always manage to detect a certain gleam in both their eyes when they riff on something amusing or crank out an improv that suggests we’re all in on their own private joke. It’s not so much that they’re self- referential but more like they’re self-aware.

So the planets really seemed to align for me when Jack Black, playing an outcast named Jerry in director Michel Gondry’s spot- on Be Kind Rewind, comfortably slips into the role of Dr. Peter Venkman, the character Bill Murray perfected in Ghostbusters. Black really didn’t have to stretch much to convey Murray’s own sense of ironic detachment and the sheer idea of watching Black do an amateur remake of this comedy classic was both daring and bold, but ultimately it paid off.

The premise here is pure comedic gold. A pair of dim-witted buddies named Jerry (Jack Black) and Mike (Mos Def) are left to watch over an outdated and out-of-place video store in Passaic, New Jersey owned by a stubborn old man named Elroy Fletcher (Danny Glover), who refuses to buy into the whole digital DVD revolution even though the technology has been around for over a decade. Of course, the video medium is crucial as a catalyst for the plot since the walking disaster known as Jerry is about to stage an illogical sabotage attempt on a local power plant that goes awry and renders him a large, human magnet. Waltzing into the video store shortly after the incident, Jerry successfully manages to erase the store’s entire inventory of VHS tapes in one fell swoop, leaving Mike at a loss as to what to do.

Desperate and afraid he’ll let down Mr. Fletcher and ruin his modest business, Mike comes up with a plan to salvage the shop: he and Jerry will videotape their own quick and dirty remakes of the films onto the now-blank tapes and rent them out to unsuspecting customers hoping they won’t notice the difference. Needless to say, they do notice the difference… but they actually take a liking to these new amateur remakes, which Jerry refers to as “Sweded” versions in an effort to make it sound like they’re imported. It also allows them to charge more than the usual $1 fee to rent them out. Soon throngs of people are lining up outside Mr. Fletcher’s Be Kind Rewind video store to rent Mike and Jerry’s latest 20-minute take on films like Robocop, Rush Hour 2, and Driving Miss Daisy.

Although the first half-hour of Be Kind Rewind is a bit pedestrian and slowly-paced, once Mike and Jerry start cranking out the movies it really kicks into high gear. Forced to shoot everything on the fly in a matter of hours, they come up with some clever ways to recreate the big-budget Hollywood films they’re reshooting, and the final versions we get to glimpse actually look pretty good and are always entertaining thanks to Jack Black’s innate ability to ham it up. I lost it when they went through a whole montage of films like the original King Kong, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Men in Black. In some ways I wish we had seen more of the completed films remade by the duo. But I guess this is a case where less is ultimately more.

There’s an entire framing subplot focusing on legendary jazz great Fats Waller who may or may not have lived in the now-condemned building that houses Mr. Fletcher’s video shop, and the movie climaxes with an original documentary about Fats that’s certainly creative but not nearly as entertaining as any of Mike and Jerry’s “Sweded” remakes. Black and Def have a nice rapport and come across as credible and caring friends who really try to do the right thing although they always seem to find obstacles in their path. As the duo’s reluctant recruit Alma, newcomer Melonie Diaz is both charming and smart and remains the calming force between the two. Screen legend Mia Farrow also has a nice supporting role as one of Mr. Fletcher’s devoted customers whose innocent request for Ghostbusters sets the wheels in motion. And in a sharp bit of casting, Sigourney Weaver shows up on behalf of the film studios to inform Mike and Jerry that their unauthorized remakes are an infringement of copyright laws!

While Jack Black does most of the heavy comedic lifting and pretty much plays a parody of himself in the various film remakes, Mos Def also turns in some nice work as a down- on-his-luck guy who really just wants to avoid confrontation and making waves. Like his previous stellar work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, writer/director Michel Gondry peppers the film with some creative visual embellishments such as apparent video dropouts when Jerry first enters the video store and demagnetizes everything in sight and some truly innovative camera work for the many “films within the film” that really captures the gritty details of renegade filmmaking.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s 2.35:1 aspect ratio is presented in a solid anamorphic transfer. Flesh tones all look natural and there is no evidence of compression artifacts or macroblocking. Color balance remains solid throughout and while the film tended to skew a bit into the orange and yellow, I suspect this was a stylistic choice and not a fault of the transfer. Gondry often employs a select color palette or high-contrast look in his films and Be Kind Rewind appears, appropriately enough, a bit more like the dated, softer VHS transfers Jerry and Mike are trying to recreate. Most of the film takes place during the day in bright sunlight, and visually this remains a bright and colorful transfer. I didn’t detect and signs of edge enhancement, halos, or mosquito noise, even in the more colorful and busier scenes. Barring a high-def upgrade, this is certainly a very good and consistent video presentation for standard DVD.

The dual-layer disc also offers the option of watching the movie in either its original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation, or in the less-preferred pan-and-scan 1.33:1 full frame version.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Offering both a discrete Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a less impressive Dolby Surround 2.0 option, the audio on this DVD is very good. Just as Gondry uses some visual trickery to enhance the story, he also employs some audio effects that complement the low- budget, amateur nature of the various “Sweded” productions. The final Fats Waller documentary, which we initially glimpse under the opening credits, also offers a myriad of voiceovers and dated sound effects that make their way from front to rear channels and also have a subtle ambient echo effect through the surround speakers. There’s a great in-joke about the original theme for the film Ghostbusters that only gets funnier once the actual theme starts blaring through the 5.1 channels. Dialogue is always clear and concise through the front center channel, although I didn’t notice a lot of stereo separation among the front speakers. The movie doesn’t offer a great opportunity for any deep subwoofer action, but overall this is a very good audio presentation that easily matches its solid video counterpart. The far less dynamic Dolby Surround 2.0 offering should only be selected for those without Dolby Digital 5.1 capabilities.

The optional subtitles are in English and Spanish.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

A movie like this really deserves a better collection of bonus material. Unfortunately, the DVD is pretty lean, offering just the original theatrical trailer for Be Kind Rewind (2:30) and an interesting but short featurette. It’s titled Passaic Mosaic (10:27) and it departs from the typical Electronic Press Kit (EPK) format by intercutting interviews with the various cast and crew members with less formal interviews with the residents of Passaic, New Jersey who either appeared as extras in the film or just observed filming from the sidelines. Much of it appears to have been shot by director Michel Gondry himself, and while most of the interviews are interesting, they tend to focus more on the neighborhood where the video store in the movie was located and less on the filmmaking process itself. It’s nice to know that many of the unique faces in the movie are non-actors who were asked to pretty much play themselves, but I longed for more details about how they came up with the premise for the film and how Black and Def were cast.

The 101-minute film is organized into twenty-four chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What Happens When You Pop The Disc Into Your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM Features on this disc.

Final Thoughts