Be Kind Rewind Videos is an old school VHS video shop in a delapidated part of the USA. Developers have given the shop's owner about a month before the place will be torn down prior to the construction of a new complex.

When the owner goes away to get ideas from the big chains he leaves his long term employee (Mos Def) in charge of the store. But when he follows his eccentric friend (Jack Black) to shut down the power station - because it is warping everybody's minds with microwave electricity - he becomes magnetised and wipes every single tape in the store.

At the end of his rope, Mos Def's character decides to refilm Ghostbusters, in the hope that the client won't notice. Their resultant reworkings become a popular phenomenon known as "sweding" - could they save the shop after-all?

Michel Gondry, the director of the film was responsible for such outlandish comedies as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and the rather odd "The Science of Sleep", but I must admit this one I enjoyed much more than the others. Jonathan Ross' review of this film suggested that the film was weak - but although a lot of the comedy aspects were revealed in the trailer I really did enjoy this film.

The best bit was probably the very clever camouflage that they had while breaking into the power plant. Obviously, in real life, the chances of them being caught in just the right position and angle for it to have worked would be pretty slim but it added a moment of genuinely clever comedy.

Don't go into this film expecting to laugh out loud throughout, or for your gross-out or slap-stick comedy stylings - but in it's own way it was a very clever and funny film.

I'd recommend seeing this at least once.

see also:
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Bruce Almighty, Dinner for Shmucks, Land of the Lost

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photo © New Line Cinema.