SUNDANCE REVIEW: BE KIND, REWIND

My only worry over BE KIND, REWIND is it's ability to hold our interest for the length of a full feature. I mean sure it's going to be fun for the first 30 minutes of so to see Jack Black and Mos Def pretend to be GHOST BUSTERS or re-creating (and no doubt being superior to the original) their own version of RUSH HOUR but I can imagine it becoming very flat, very quickly.

The film from French visionary director Michel Gondry has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Cinematical's James Rocchi is the first person to tell us what he thinks of it. Sadly, I think he got bored with it...

Be Kind Rewind is a film where the plot is less important than panache, where the lack of elegance is made up for by an excess of enthusiasm. Be Kind Rewind is about feel more than focus -- and who cares about a storyline when you have Jerry and Mike's re-imagined films, with their inventive camera tricks and dime-store magic, to fill the screen? I could appreciate the whimsy and charm of Be Kind Rewind, but I also knew that bright whimsy and hand-made charm was pasted over almost nothing; still, as we all learned in 4th grade arts and crafts (and Gondry may have learned all too well), just because paper-mache is hollow doesn't mean it can't be pretty.

So to sum up Rocchi's review... Gondry's hearts in the right place, the film is full of energy and charm and in typical Gondry style is beautiful to look at... but... it's a little flat and it narratively goes nowhere. Which I think we could have all guessed from the trailer. Still I'm mega looking forward to this movie and I'll be there opening night to see it when it opens on February 22nd in both the U.K. and the U.S.