Premise: Two young men try to save a video store from the wrecking ball.
Stars: Jack Black * Mos Def * Danny Glover * Mia Farrow * Sigourney Weaver * Melonie Diaz
Story: Mike (Def) and Jerry (Black) are two young men who love a video store, Be Kind Rewind, owned by Mr. Fletcher (Glover). While Mr. Fletcher travels to try and prevent a developer from buying out the building, Mike runs the store and tries to raise enough money to prevent the buyout. Jerry, in an effort to sabotage the power company, gets electrocuted and heavily magnetized. He accidentally wipes out all of the tapes (the video store is old and only has VHS copies), leaving the store in a jam.
The duo decide to remake all of the films in order to try and keep the store going. Unfortunately, the FBI discovers their copyright violations and shuts them down. With only a week before the closure, they try to raise the money with one original film.
Review: A nice effort by all. The film relies on its one gimmick - "sweding" films, or basically remaking all of the films with Black and Def (and eventually their friends and neighbours) in all of the roles - heavily. It's humourous and engaging in the beginning yet becomes the source of the issue in the third act. Black and Def play off each other really well, driving the film.
There are some issues with the film, however. It feels unfinished and leaves the audience (or at least me) feeling unsatisfied. There are subplots, and indeed even the main plot, left with no real conclusion. Do Mos Def and Melonie Diaz work on their relationship? Does the original film convince the developer to back off, or do they end up closing shop? The film appears to end on a positive note, but as Mr. Fletcher promised a quiet ending to the film and no riots, perhaps that's the route taken. Charming, but unfilling. Like a Twinkie or a light beer.
Overall: Mediocre
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
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