Be Kind Rewind (PG-13) ***

By Rene Rodriguez

People who like their movies neat and orderly are going to have a hard time with Be Kind Rewind. Michel Gondry, who wrote and directed the film, approaches matters of story and character in a cracked, askew manner (he also made The Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Gondry gives you just enough bearings to allow you to latch onto his wavelength, but only just enough: Be Kind Rewind is at its best when it is at its most freewheeling — when it tramples past logic, motivation and basic plausibility in its pursuit of a funny, whimsical kind of nonsense.

The film’s early moments are somewhat off-putting because Gondry doesn’t give us an obvious reason to warm up to his protagonists, the even-keeled Mike (Mos Def) and his annoyingly lunatic pal Jerry (Jack Black). Mike is a clerk at a ramshackle New Jersey video store owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover), who still rents movies on VHS tapes for a dollar a night. Due to pressure from city developers eager to raze his building and replace it with a condo, Fletcher leaves Mike in charge of the store while he goes on a fact-finding trip to improve his business (i.e. DVDs).

In his absence, the conspiracy-minded Jerry launches an attack on a nearby electrical plant that turns him into a human magnet — and erases all the videotapes in the store. So when a customer comes in asking to rent Ghostbusters, Mike and Jerry decide to remake (or ”swede”) the movie themselves, using the kind of zero-budget special effects, atrocious acting and improvisational techniques that would bring Ed Wood to his knees in awe.

The duo’s version of Ghostbusters is the comic high point of Be Kind Rewind (with RoboCop a close second). Rush Hour 2, 2001: A Space Odyssey and When We Were Kings also get sweded. But Gondry isn’t as interested in the hilariously shabby remakes as the effect they have on the store’s clientele. Outcasts and oddballs just like Mike and Jerry, the customers start lining up to request titles — and even pay extra for cameo appearances in the films — because they prefer them to the real thing. Be Kind Rewind is, among other things, an ode to the intoxicating kick of kitchen-sink creativity and how quickly it spreads, especially when you show people that anyone really can do this, regardless of who they know or how much money they have.

And movies, of course, appeal to everyone, whether it’s a chronically depressed old maid (Mia Farrow), an assistant (Melonie Diaz) at the neighborhood dry cleaners or a pack of tough-talking gang members. Gondry, who favors low-tech, Scotch-tape and glue special effects, gives Be Kind Rewind a rough, handmade style. There’s a slapdash feel to many scenes, and the camera is occasionally put in the wrong place. And the cinematography, by Ellen Kuras, emphasizes the drabness of the neighborhood in which the story unfolds.

This is all indicative of Gondry’s lack of interest in anything resembling sentimentality (the only vaguely romantic scene in the entire film consists of Mike telling a girl he still wants to kiss her despite her mustache). The real emotion in Be Kind Rewind is stored inside the film’s framing device, a historical ”documentary” made by all the characters in the movie that claims legendary jazzman Fats Waller lived in their neighborhood.

At once hilariously awful and magically creative, the documentary has a transporting, uplifting kick — the same inexplicable quality that Be Kind Rewind imparts on the viewer. It’s a mistake, I think, to read too much into what Be Kind Rewind is ”saying” about filmmaking, or Hollywood, or the instant-stardom phenomenon imparted by YouTube and American Idol. Gondry doesn’t want you to think too much about his movie: He merely wants you to go along for its admittedly kooky ride, just like his characters are doing. His theme in Be Kind Rewind may be movies, but his real subject is ordinary, crazy people.

This story was originally published February 21, 2008 at 3:02 AM.