Michel Gondry is back with more of his whimsical imagery that is scotch taped together with Be Kind Rewind. Gondry seems to brew concepts that are merely launch pads for his trade mark, hands-on design. It’s a wonder that he has been able to color in the lines enough to give an emotional depth to his bag of tricks. This particular flight of fancy works as a love letter to what Gondry has been doing all along: making believe.
The setup is simple: two normal guys Jerry and Mike (Jack Black and Mos Def) are in a pickle. Mike is left in charge of a failing VHS rental store in nowhere-New Jersey and Jerry accidentally erased all of the tapes with his electrically charged body (the cause of Jerry’s problem is even sillier). When an old lady wants to watch Ghost Busters they tell her to come back and then shoot it themselves.
So comes another Gondry vehicle for sweetly lo-fi special effects. The first third of the movie seems to be little more than vehicle. At points the rickety exposition punctuated with off-kilter slapstick could even be homage to some of the schlock the boys end up remaking, or ’sweding’ as they dub their d.i.y. process. In any case the trouble is forgotten once the boys pick up the hefty VHS camcorder, the curtain seems to open a little wider and Gondry’s charming wonderland unfolds once again.
The neighbors are even brought into the joyous labor, as the girl from the dry cleaning shop becomes a leading lady and the local mechanic fashions make shift vehicles. Laughs break up the constant grins caused by incautious attempts at Rush Hour 2 and Driving Ms. Daisy. Black is in his best dork suit; up tight, narcissistic and hilarious, while Mos Def sheds his MC swagger to play a pure and naive young man trying to save a tiny business.
The fun comes with an encapsulation of Gondry’s guiding philosophy that anyone’s creativity is more captivating then prepackaged perfection, even if you can see the strings. Indeed, the strings Mike and Jerry use to float ‘ghost books’ around are what makes it magic.
****
