Get this for a plot: Jerry (Jack Black) tries to bring down a power plant, but he ends up being magnetized, so when he goes to the video store to see his friend Mike (Mos Def), he accidentally erases all the VHS tapes. To replace the tapes, Jerry and Mike shoot their own homemade versions of hit movies and rent them out to people. These “sweded” movies (as they’re called in the movie) attract a lot of attention and give the video store a little more life than it had before.

Yes, it’s bizarre, and yes, it’s contrived and unbelievable, yet as the movie progresses, you can’t help but want to see what happens next. What keeps the movie rolling is the love for cinema embedded in each and every scene. And Director Michel Gondry doesn’t focus on elitist art when it comes to the films that get “sweded.” He is more than willing to include movies that people enjoy watching but wouldn’t put on a top-ten list. What movie junky won’t get a kick out of Mike and Jerry’s homemade versions of Ghostbusters, 2001: a Space Odyssey, and Rush Hour 2?

Gondry is an abstract genius, and his creativity in everything from his music videos (“Fell in Love with a Girl”) to his movies (Science of Sleep) doesn’t belong in a movie with a reasonable plot structure. Be Kind Rewind is appropriately abstract for Gondry’s wild imagination, and if you are a fan of his or movies in general, this is a must-see.

Rating: 8/10