Be Kind To Mos Def

Be Kind Rewind is an awkward movie. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but I also wanted to like it, which may have helped me get past its problems. The main story line is somewhat cliched and fairly disjointed and the script could have used another couple passes. In fact, several actors seem like their performances are mostly improvisational. Of course, this is probably entirely intentional. After all, the movie isn't really about the story, or the script, or the actors. It's not even about making Sweded versions of movies. It's about why people like movies. Michel Gondry creates a childlike, nostalgic world, to bring you back to a time when you could literally be awestruck by a movie, when you could truly fall in love with a film and watch it over and over again until it no longer existed on a worn out VHS tape, but became a part of you. You could replay the scenes in your mind, cast yourself as the lead, and make the lines your own. That is truly what Sweding represents, and the film is able to convey that with the assistance of the dramatically creative visuals you've come to expect from Gondry. So while you may find yourself just wanting to watch more Swedes and skip the story, there is a reason that story is there. But, yeah, if the whole movie was just two hours of them recreating Ghostbusters, that would have been good too.
A- (but it would have been a B if bustin' didn't make me feel so good)