Be Kind, Rewind

I know my video shops. My first ever proper job – not counting paper rounds – was at a charming video shop in my home town of  Peterborough at the tender age of fifteen. That particular career lasted well into my eighteenth year and I returned to the retail trade whilst at college, taking a job at the glorious ‘Star Video’ to supplement my meagre student grant and loans. I’ve advised Grandmothers to rent ‘Driller Killer‘ for their grandchild’s birthday parties, sniggered at businessmen discreetly returning their porn rentals, furtively produced from their briefcases whilst on the commuter run home and offended punters by devastatingly mocking their choice of Pauly Shore or Rob Schneider rentals. Some of my mates at college once likened me to the great Randall of ‘Clerks’ fame,  an accolade that still brings tears of joy to my eyes. Any film revolving around the video trade inevitably holds a personal appeal to me, so it was with eager anticipation I settled down to watch Gondry’s new film ‘Be Kind, Rewind’ at the flicks last night.

 

Part time conspiracy theorist Jerry (Frank Black) becomes magnetised after he breaks in to the local power station, convinced that the operation is emitting dangerous radiation waves. After visiting his friend Mike (Mos Def) he unintentionally wipes all the tapes at the video store that Mike works in which is owned by local figure Mr. Fletcher, played with craggy charm by Danny Glover. The store is already facing bankruptcy and is being threatened with demolition to make way for a development of luxury condominiums. In a desperate effort to keep the store afloat, Jerry and Mike start to remake the movies on the cheap, using homemade props and costumes, shooting on their cheap video camera and using local characters and friends as actors and extras.

Despite having some fertile ground to mine – the entire history of film – I’m sorry to report that this does not work. The jokes and script are weak and even the remakes barely raised a titter amongst the audience, myself included. There are a couple of moments that portray Gondry’s unique inventiveness but overall it just doesn’t gel, it doesn’t charm like the ‘Science of Sleep’ or ‘Eternal Sunshine…’ It’s the old Progress versus Tradition theme, dressed up in a different manner but still yawn inducingly dull, mirroring the VHS to DVD evolution with the flattening of the local community video shop to usher in the garish new apartments. The trailer has all the funny moments, and that speaks volumes. It’s real a shame as I was looking forward to this, a good comedy in the midst of a series of great but very dark films that have graced the start of 2008 would have been welcome. Still, it has reminded me to track this down, a film I saw the trailer for a couple of years ago and thought could be funny, I shall report back.