A surprisingly sweet comedy showcasing a manic Jack Black, “Be Kind Rewind” is a love letter to the technology and movies of the 1980s as well as celebrating the DIY ethos of the YouTube generation.
Be prepared to suspend disbelief at the outset. Though nominally set in the present, writer-director Michel Gondry asks us to accept the premise of a shop in scruffy Passaic, NJ, that rents only obsolescent VHS tapes of ’80s classics.
Black plays Jerry, a nutty part-time clerk at the store, Be Kind Rewind, who becomes electrified when he launches an assault on a neighboring power plant that results in his looking like a character in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
Jerry’s newly magnetized presence instantly erases the entire stock of tapes, much to the horror of his lifelong and long-suffering pal Mike (Mos Def), who has been placed in charge while owner Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) is out of town.
When Mr. Fletcher sends his ditzy friend Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) to rent a copy of “Ghostbusters” to check up on the guys, they stall her for a few hours.
Instead of buying another VHS copy or duplicating one from DVD, Jerry and Mike use a camcorder to produce their own 20-minute version starring themselves and thrift-store special effects – the funniest sequence in “Be Kind Rewind.”
It’s a hit not only with Ms. Falewicz but also with other Passaic residents.
Soon they’re lining up around the block for ever-more-elaborate “Sweded” (supposedly imported from Sweden) versions of other ’80s flicks.
These include “Driving Miss Daisy” with Jerry and Mike in the Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman roles, as well as their inimitable version of “Rush Hour,” arguably more entertaining than the original.
Jerry has the title role in a briefly glimpsed remake of the 1933 “King Kong,” which is something of an in-joke, given that Black starred in the 2005 version.
The meta surprises continue with a cast member from “Ghostbusters” who turns up as a Hollywood lawyer and puts an end to the copyright-infringing remakes.
The store has been facing the wrecker’s ball for urban renewal, but Mike and Jerry launch a last-ditch effort at raising funds with an original movie based on Mr. Fletcher’s (wholly erroneous) belief that musical legend Fats Waller was born in an apartment above the store.
Proudly silly, “Be Kind Rewind” has more in common with Gondry’s ephemeral French-language “The Science of Sleep” than his most famous movie, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (which was written by Charlie Kaufman).
However, it shares a passion for the low-tech and the power of dreams with both of them.
BE KIND REWIND
Slight but charming.
Running time: 101 minutes. Rated PG-13 (sexual references). At the Empire, the Cinema 1, the Chelsea, others.