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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Be Kind Rewind

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 79 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by: Michel Gondry
Directed by: Michel Gondry
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 22, 2008
DVD: June 17, 2008
Running Time: 101 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some sexual references
Starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Melonie Diaz, Arjay Smith, Paul Dinello, and Marcus Carl Franklin
A lovable loser is stuck in a life that's too small for his big dreams. But when he unintentionally erases all the tapes in a video store where his best friend works, he devises a plan to satisfy the store's few loyal customers by re-creating and refilming every movie they decide to rent. (New Line Cinema)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Dave Chappelle's Block Party Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Human Nature The Science of Sleep
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
It's refreshing to see Gondry's moviemaking still possessed by the community spirit he caught a few years ago with "Dave Chappelle's Block Party."
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The visual wit, game performances, and overflowing humanity have more than made up for the shortcomings by the time the film finds a final moment that's simultaneously abrupt and magical.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It's as if Gondry lets his performers settle into their parts and feel their way through their stories. It gives the film an ambling pace and a unique chemistry that bubbles with strange and unexpected flavors.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
A love letter to the technology and movies of the 1980s as well as celebrating the DIY ethos of the YouTube generation.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A charmingly off-the-wall little tale. Black doesn't do anything he hasn't done before (in fact, he's already done his remake of King Kong!).
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
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.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
in a larger sense Be Kind Rewind declares that the riches of cinema history touch each of us personally. Films become so deep a part of us that we own them that our memories of them, whether faithful or fanciful, become their meanings. As a movie critic and, even before and above that, a movie lover, how can I disagree with that?
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
An achingly sweet, shambling creation that takes its time and wanders through slow-moving sight gags and odd supporting performances (like Mia Farrow's, as a dithery, lonely woman who is among the store's only customers) and ends up with a marvelously warm community-melding scene out of maybe 1924, with a bunch of people standing around on the street watching a black-and-white silent film.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
In its sweet, lackadaisical way, Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind illuminates the pleasures and paradoxes of movie love.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The films of Michel Gondry aren't for everyone, but viewers who vibe to his playful, cerebral, wildly imaginative sensibility might get a kick out of Be Kind Rewind.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
It's an exuberant, fanciful fable set amid the scruffy outskirts of American society, where people's need for escapism coincides with their desire to participate in its creation.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
There's nothing not to like about the movie, a teensy, hand-crocheted trifle, fitted with embroidered pockets of guest stardom, including Mia Farrow as the nice local lady who wants to see what "Ghostbusters" is all about and "Ghostbusters'" own Sigourney Weaver as a movie-studio corporate meanie, ha-ha.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Gondry and the gifted indie cinematographer Ellen Kuras have fun with the amateur versions of the likes of "RoboCop," "Rush Hour," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "King Kong" and "Driving Miss Daisy." These snippets are fun but frustratingly brief.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The film doesn’t hold together. But it’s the work of a real director, however fantastic his sensibility.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Thirty minutes into Be Kind Rewind, you may wonder what you're doing in the theater. Sixty minutes into it, if you have stayed, you will know.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Whimsy with a capital W. No, it's WHIMSY in all caps. Make that all-caps italic boldface. Oh, never mind. I'm getting too whimsical.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Predictable this isn't, but that can be seen as both an asset and a detriment.
Read Full Review >Premiere Glenn Kenny
Gondry might have been better off keeping his movie on theoretical/slapstick grounds, because, quite frankly, his attempts at sincerity just don't make it.
Read Full Review >Empire Kim Newman
The remake/parody sequences - trailers for which are on the official site - are outstanding, but Black’s all-over-the-place mania and Mos Def’s slightly too bland orphan hero don’t quite tie the rest of the picture together. Still, it has heart. And you’d rather see this version of "Rush Hour 2" than the original.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Sweet-natured and likable as the movie is, it never really delivers on the promise of its ingenious premise, which hints at a subversive retelling of mainstream Hollywood movies but stops short at goofy homage.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Gondry’s well-meaning but too soft, too structure-less picture.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
An unambiguous celebration of the state of preadolescent fixation. The movie is perhaps best understood as a 12-year-old boy: You want to give it a hug and then yell at it to pick up after itself.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Feels slight and repetitive, even when there is no actual rewinding going on.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
The whole film has a rag-tag, purposefully shambolic feel -- but this communal commitment to a DIY aesthetic is also his undoing, particularly when he allows an irritatingly manic Jack Black to run wild and virtually hijack the movie.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
The funniest things in Be Kind Rewind are not the many moments in which Mike and Jerry look like Ed Wood’s worst nightmare, but when the pair finds expedient ways to do for pennies what would take Brett Ratner millions and be less expressive to boot.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Although frequently funny, Be Kind doesn't have the same pathos as "The Science of Sleep." (Nothing approaches the loneliness projected by Gael García Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg.)
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
No doubt Be Kind Rewind will soon make its way to – um – DVD.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
This movie doesn't have a mean bone in its body; the problem is, it doesn't have any bone in its body.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
A comedy without one foot on the ground is no more than a flight of fancy, as directionless as a balloon; the master clowns of silent cinema knew that, and so does Mr. Fletcher, the gravid elder statesman of this film. As he says to Mike and Jerry, “I appreciate your creativity, but let’s be realistic for a second.” Be kind. Erase.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
It's a quick trip from whimsy to silliness in Be Kind Rewind, a notably ephemeral work by Michel Gondry, whose flights of fancy can't overcome the egregious illogic of the premise.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
A muddle—not amiably ambling, not affably shaggy, just a mess that gets messier till, at times, the whole thing looks improvised by amateurs more concerned with being clever than something resembling affectionate.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This anachronistic tale goes beyond Capracorn to evoke Depression-era fare like "One Hundred Men and a Girl" in which the charm is overtaken by mush. One wants to protect this, but it's hard not to gag on the cuteness.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Apparently pitched somewhere between a farce and a fable, this flick is neither. Just foolish. And frustrating. And, mostly, damned annoying.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Inside 10 minutes, at most 15, Be Kind Rewind reveals itself as an awful mess, and it only gets worse.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Mark Bell
I had just sat through a comedy that wasn't funny, a drama that wasn't touching and, all told, a mess of a story told by actors making some of either the laziest or most daring of choices, depending on your perspective. Sometimes both.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 79 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
R K gave it a6:
A very average film with some chuckles here and there and one hilarious scence when they are trying to break into a shop, but other than that pretty disappointing. Expected much more from such an excellent comedian as Jack Black.
Mitch M gave it a9:
A well acted original movie.
Sam W gave it a10:
To be frank, Be Kind Rewind was exactly what I needed. In a world endless sequels by disney and tv movies based on bad cartoons, this excellent film was like a cleansing rain. It was original, funny, had great characters, and a bittersweet ending. If more directors would have the guts to do something this offbeat, we would live in a world with better movies.
b t gave it a10:
A great example of the peculiarly dense and narrow minds of most film critics. Most only know certain niches and lack appreciation of things like action, high tragedy, or in this case, a well-rounded sense of humor and appreciation of the absurd as something silly/stupid.
Jordan Z gave it a9:
In a world flooded with cookie-cutter blockbusters, Be Kind is a refreshing reminder of what movies can / should be like.
PAblo P. gave it a1:
This was one of the worst movies I've ever watched. The plot was dull and lagged, the comedy wasn't funny, and the drama was just not moving. Nothing in this movie stood out other than my desire to Be Kind to myself and Turn the movie off.
Tyler D. gave it a9:
I adored this movie. Great cinematography, espeically for what you'd think was just another comedy. All of the preformances were done perfectly and some parts are so clever you think "how'd they even think of that?" Be Kind Rewind was very original, funny, and even heartwarming at times. I recommend it greatly.
