Be Kind Rewind
New Line Cinema | Release Date: February 22, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
12
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Boston GlobeWesley 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
83
The A.V. ClubKeith 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
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean 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
75
New York PostLou 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
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven 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
75
Miami HeraldRene 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
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk 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
70
Washington PostAnn 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
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
In its sweet, lackadaisical way, Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind illuminates the pleasures and paradoxes of movie love. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew 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
70
TimeRichard 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
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Predictable this isn't, but that can be seen as both an asset and a detriment. Read full review
63
PremiereGlenn 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
63
Rolling StonePeter 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
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The film doesn’t hold together. But it’s the work of a real director, however fantastic his sensibility. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence 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
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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
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