Be Kind Rewind Comes Up Short, Stale and Flat

There's no disputing Be Kind Rewind's attempt at sweetness—the movie's as sentimental as a tear-stained get-well card. Only, it's too flat to work up any feelings. Gondry, once more left to his own thin devices, is a master of the intellectual side of filmmaking but has no idea how to wring emotion from his subject matter. Worse, Be Kind Rewind is also a drab, flat-looking film, like something actually made by men for whom a camera's less a tool than a novelty item. Then there's this sad note: It's also just another Jack Black movie, only the low-rent Belushi was far more engaging a thousand years ago slinging old records than remaking old movies. And that's trying to be kind.