Be Kind Rewind
Encyclopedia
Be Kind Rewind is a 2008 American
comedy film
with dramatic elements from New Line Cinema
, written and directed by Michel Gondry
and starring Jack Black
, Mos Def
, Melonie Diaz
, Danny Glover
and Mia Farrow
. The film first appeared on January 20, 2008 at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
. It was later shown at the Berlin International Film Festival
. The film opened on February 22, 2008 in the United Kingdom
and in North America
.
The title is inspired by a phrase that was commonly displayed on VHS
rental tapes during the medium's heyday.
, the declining "Be Kind Rewind" VHS rental store owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover
) is due to be demolished to make way for high-end development (due in large part to the refusal of Mr. Fletcher to rent out DVD
s) unless he can find the money to renovate his building, despite his claims that jazz pianist Fats Waller
was born in that building (Waller was actually born in Harlem on May 21, 1904). Mr. Fletcher leaves on a trip for several days to join friends and memorialize Waller, leaving his only employee, Mike (Mos Def
), to tend to the store. Before leaving Mr. Fletcher cautions Mike to keep his paranoid
and klutzy friend, Jerry (Jack Black
), away from the store. After attempting to sabotage a nearby electrical substation, believing its energy to be melting his brain, Jerry becomes magnetized, and when he enters the store the next day, he inadvertently erases all the VHS tapes in the store (as well as making the camera go out of focus, whenever he walks past it). Mike quickly discovers the disaster, and is further pressed when Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow
), Mr. Fletcher's friend, wants to rent Ghostbusters
. To prevent her from reporting a problem to Mr. Fletcher, Mike comes up with an idea: as Miss Falewicz has never seen the movie, he proposes to recreate the film using himself and Jerry as the actors and cheap special effects hoping to fool her. They complete the movie just in time when another customer asks for Rush Hour 2
. Mike and Jerry repeat their filming, enlisting the help of Alma (Melonie Diaz
), a local woman, for some of the parts.
Word of mouth spreads through Miss Falewicz's nephew (Chandler Parker) of the inadvertently hilarious results of Mike and Jerry's filming, and soon the store is seeing more requests for such movies. Mike, Jerry, and Alma quickly pass off the movies as being "sweded", insisting the films came from Sweden
and thus able to demand long wait times and higher costs for the rental. Soon, to meet demand, Mike and Jerry enlist the locals to help out in making the movies, using them as starring roles in their films. When Mr. Fletcher returns, intent on converting the store to a DVD
rental outlet, he quickly recognizes that they are making more money from the sweded films than from normal rentals, and joins in with the process. However, the success is put to a halt when two court bailiff
s (Sigourney Weaver
and Paul Dinello
) arrive, insisting the sweded films are copyright violations
, and seize the tapes and the store's assets, crushing the tapes with a steamroller
. Without any money to renovate the building, Mr. Fletcher gives up hope, and is forced to reveal to Mike that he had lied about the building being Fats Waller's birthplace. Mr. Fletcher is given a week to evacuate the building before it will be razed.
Jerry, with the help of the local townspeople, convinces Mr. Fletcher and Mike to give one last hurrah and put together a movie dedicated to Fats Waller's life, and the two quickly warm up to the idea. On the day the building is scheduled for demolition, Mr. Fletcher invites all the locals to watch the final film. In his eagerness to start the show due to the presence of the demolition crew waiting to start the job, Jerry accidentally breaks the only TV the store has, but a nearby DVD store owner loans them his video projector
, allowing them to show the movie on a white cloth placed in the store's window. As their film ends, Mr. Fletcher, Mike and Jerry exit the store to find a crowd has gathered to watch the film through the window, including the city official and wrecking crew, and they are given a rousing applause by the gathered crowd. The final fate of the store is left ambiguous.
as an excuse for higher rental fees and longer wait times. Jerry fabricated the word "sweded" while arguing with Craig (Chandler Parker) and his gang.
In light of the theme of sweding, director Michel Gondry sweded a version of the trailer of the film, starring himself. On the official website, users can engage in sweding, which puts their faces on the VHS cover of a movie. The Be Kind Rewind YouTube
channel also encourages filmmakers to create sweded versions of popular movies.
The theme of sweding also relates to film history, in that the collectively made remakes represent social memories of films, and memories that arise through films.
, New Jersey
.
reporting that 65% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 121 reviews. The site's critical consensus of the film: "Slighter and less disciplined than Gondry's previous mind-benders." Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 52 out of 100, based on 35 reviews. Writing in The New York Times
, reviewer A. O. Scott
called the film "inviting, undemanding and altogether wonderful" and added that "you’ll want to see it again, or at least Swede it yourself."
and Canada
, ranking #9 at the box office, and averaging $5,013 per theater. As of September 21, 2008, the film has grossed $30.4 million worldwide — an estimated $11 million in the United States and Canada and $19 million in other territories.
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
with dramatic elements from New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, written and directed by Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...
and starring Jack Black
Jack Black
Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
, Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
, Melonie Diaz
Melonie Diaz
Melonie Diaz is an American actress who has been appeared in many independent films, including four shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.-Biography:...
, Danny Glover
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
and Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
. The film first appeared on January 20, 2008 at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
2008 Sundance Film Festival
The 2008 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 17, 2008 to January 27 in Park City, Utah. It was the 24th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was In Bruges and the closing night film was CSNY Déjà Vu.-Films:...
. It was later shown at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. The film opened on February 22, 2008 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The title is inspired by a phrase that was commonly displayed on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
rental tapes during the medium's heyday.
Plot
In Passaic, New JerseyPassaic, New Jersey
Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
, the declining "Be Kind Rewind" VHS rental store owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
) is due to be demolished to make way for high-end development (due in large part to the refusal of Mr. Fletcher to rent out DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s) unless he can find the money to renovate his building, despite his claims that jazz pianist Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
was born in that building (Waller was actually born in Harlem on May 21, 1904). Mr. Fletcher leaves on a trip for several days to join friends and memorialize Waller, leaving his only employee, Mike (Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
), to tend to the store. Before leaving Mr. Fletcher cautions Mike to keep his paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
and klutzy friend, Jerry (Jack Black
Jack Black
Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
), away from the store. After attempting to sabotage a nearby electrical substation, believing its energy to be melting his brain, Jerry becomes magnetized, and when he enters the store the next day, he inadvertently erases all the VHS tapes in the store (as well as making the camera go out of focus, whenever he walks past it). Mike quickly discovers the disaster, and is further pressed when Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
), Mr. Fletcher's friend, wants to rent Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
. To prevent her from reporting a problem to Mr. Fletcher, Mike comes up with an idea: as Miss Falewicz has never seen the movie, he proposes to recreate the film using himself and Jerry as the actors and cheap special effects hoping to fool her. They complete the movie just in time when another customer asks for Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 2 is a 2001 martial arts action comedy film. This is the second installment in the Rush Hour film series. A sequel to the 1998 film Rush Hour, the film stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker who respectively reprise their roles as Inspector Lee and Los Angeles police detective James Carter...
. Mike and Jerry repeat their filming, enlisting the help of Alma (Melonie Diaz
Melonie Diaz
Melonie Diaz is an American actress who has been appeared in many independent films, including four shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.-Biography:...
), a local woman, for some of the parts.
Word of mouth spreads through Miss Falewicz's nephew (Chandler Parker) of the inadvertently hilarious results of Mike and Jerry's filming, and soon the store is seeing more requests for such movies. Mike, Jerry, and Alma quickly pass off the movies as being "sweded", insisting the films came from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and thus able to demand long wait times and higher costs for the rental. Soon, to meet demand, Mike and Jerry enlist the locals to help out in making the movies, using them as starring roles in their films. When Mr. Fletcher returns, intent on converting the store to a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
rental outlet, he quickly recognizes that they are making more money from the sweded films than from normal rentals, and joins in with the process. However, the success is put to a halt when two court bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
s (Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
and Paul Dinello
Paul Dinello
Paul Dinello is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and an alumnus of Chicago-based The Second City, Improv Institute, and Annoyance Theatre...
) arrive, insisting the sweded films are copyright violations
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
, and seize the tapes and the store's assets, crushing the tapes with a steamroller
Steamroller
A steamroller is a form of road roller – a type of heavy construction machinery used for levelling surfaces, such as roads or airfields – that is powered by a steam engine...
. Without any money to renovate the building, Mr. Fletcher gives up hope, and is forced to reveal to Mike that he had lied about the building being Fats Waller's birthplace. Mr. Fletcher is given a week to evacuate the building before it will be razed.
Jerry, with the help of the local townspeople, convinces Mr. Fletcher and Mike to give one last hurrah and put together a movie dedicated to Fats Waller's life, and the two quickly warm up to the idea. On the day the building is scheduled for demolition, Mr. Fletcher invites all the locals to watch the final film. In his eagerness to start the show due to the presence of the demolition crew waiting to start the job, Jerry accidentally breaks the only TV the store has, but a nearby DVD store owner loans them his video projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
, allowing them to show the movie on a white cloth placed in the store's window. As their film ends, Mr. Fletcher, Mike and Jerry exit the store to find a crowd has gathered to watch the film through the window, including the city official and wrecking crew, and they are given a rousing applause by the gathered crowd. The final fate of the store is left ambiguous.
"Sweded"
Films that were erased and recreated are referred to as having been sweded. These remakes are unedited with only a single take per scene. The tapes are described as having come from SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
as an excuse for higher rental fees and longer wait times. Jerry fabricated the word "sweded" while arguing with Craig (Chandler Parker) and his gang.
In light of the theme of sweding, director Michel Gondry sweded a version of the trailer of the film, starring himself. On the official website, users can engage in sweding, which puts their faces on the VHS cover of a movie. The Be Kind Rewind YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel also encourages filmmakers to create sweded versions of popular movies.
The theme of sweding also relates to film history, in that the collectively made remakes represent social memories of films, and memories that arise through films.
Production
Filming of Be Kind Rewind took place over several weeks in autumn of 2006 largely in and around PassaicPassaic, New Jersey
Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Cast
- Jack BlackJack BlackJack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
as Jerry Mclean - Mos DefMos DefDante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
as Mike Coolwell - Danny GloverDanny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
as Mr. Fletcher - Mia FarrowMia FarrowMia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
as Miss Falewicz - Melonie DiazMelonie DiazMelonie Diaz is an American actress who has been appeared in many independent films, including four shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.-Biography:...
as Alma Sykes - Arjay SmithArjay SmithArjay L. Smith is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his teenage role portraying the titular character of the Nickelodeon children's television series, The Journey of Allen Strange. Most recently, he portrayed terrorist Laurent Dubaku during Season 7 of the Fox thriller/drama 24...
as Manny - Quinton AaronQuinton AaronQuinton Aaron, born August 15, 1984, is an American actor whose first lead role was as Michael Oher in the 2009 film The Blind Side.-Early Life:...
as Q - Chandler Parker as Craig
- P. J. ByrneP. J. ByrnePaul Jeffrey "P. J." Byrne is an American television actor, most known for his recurring role of Irv Smiff Sachs on the sitcom The Game....
as Mr. Baker - Matt Walsh as Officer Julian
- Paul DinelloPaul DinelloPaul Dinello is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and an alumnus of Chicago-based The Second City, Improv Institute, and Annoyance Theatre...
as Mr. Rooney - Sigourney WeaverSigourney WeaverSigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
as Ms. Lawson - Marcus Carl FranklinMarcus Carl FranklinMarcus Carl Franklin is an American actor. He is best known for portraying an incarnation of Bob Dylan who calls himself "Woody Guthrie" in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, written and directed by Todd Haynes...
as Kid #1 - Booker T. JonesBooker T. JonesBooker T. Jones is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. and the MGs. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for lifetime...
as Fats Waller's fan in train (uncredited) - Steve CropperSteve CropperSteve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
as Fats' Waller's fan in train (uncredited)
Critical reception
The film has received mostly positive reviews, with review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reporting that 65% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 121 reviews. The site's critical consensus of the film: "Slighter and less disciplined than Gondry's previous mind-benders." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 52 out of 100, based on 35 reviews. Writing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, reviewer A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
called the film "inviting, undemanding and altogether wonderful" and added that "you’ll want to see it again, or at least Swede it yourself."
Box office performance
In its opening weekend, the film earned $4 million in 808 theaters in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, ranking #9 at the box office, and averaging $5,013 per theater. As of September 21, 2008, the film has grossed $30.4 million worldwide — an estimated $11 million in the United States and Canada and $19 million in other territories.