Be Kind Rewind was a pleasant surprise. A concept that could have easily faltered into an increasingly ridiculous series of spoofs and site gags (see any spoof recently made like Superhero Movie and Meet the Spartans), is actually quite original and sweet.

The trailer gives away the basic premise; a couple of down on their luck video merchants (Jack Black and Mos Def) are forced to film their own $2 versions of big Hollywood movies like Ghostbusters, Rush Hour 2 and Driving Miss Daisy when their stock of VHS tapes is accidentally erased. What begins as a stop-gap measure to prevent a customer (Mia Farrow) from letting store owner Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) know about the debacle, becomes a neighbourhood phenomenon as the boys are asked to “Swede” up other classics.

There’s a lot of heart in this movie, which combines moments of funny and lessons about the nature of community without getting schmaltzy. Like all films by Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, Science of Sleep) one must put the discerning/sarcastic part of your brain on hold during the running time.

The simple genius of the film’s premise is that it appeals to the kid in everyone that ever got it into their head to take what they can find and shoot a love letter/imitation of your favourite movie or TV show… Even me (Spring of ’92, filming a ‘lost’ episode of Star Trek at Kevin Swim’s house on Super 8. His mom played a space monster tucked underneath a brown blanket looking like some kind of blob like thing).

But back to Be Kind Rewind. Is it a bit bizarre to see someone, even a down and out operation like BKR, rent VHS? Yeah, kind of. At least Gondry’s script addresses this discrepancy, but actually I almost rather it didn’t. I like the idea of these guys just sort of serving VHS without regard for the switch in format. Like those guys in the 90s that kept selling vinyl before it became ‘cool’ again to spin a turntable at home.

The movie is carried by the great chemistry between Black’s Jerry and Def’s Mike; they’re a great odd couple with Mike being the responsible one being left in charge of the store and Jerry getting accidentally magnetized after an ill-advised sabotage attempt of the power station to stop their alleged mind-control activities. Def is an able straight man with good timing and Black manages to tone down his abusive cooler-then-thou routine to make Jerry a loveable goof.

However, the heart of the movie isn’t Black’s improv Ghostbusters theme, or the hilarious methodology the guys use to re-create key effects sequences, or the fact that Mike and Jerry are VHS guys in a You Tube world. The moral centre of Be Kind Rewind, is the notion that community means more than just some buildings where people live and work.

There’s a subplot about the city wanting to tear down the BKR building and putting up some pretty condos instead of an ugly century old walk up that’s not up to code. And naturally as the BKR gang start to taste success in their ‘Swedeing’ efforts to use their spoofs to pay and bring the building up to code, Hollywood puts the kibosh on their whole operation.

This undercurrent of fighting big business and believing that there’s still room in this world for the little guy is particularly strong as the film reaches its conclusion. What you realize is that Jerry, Mike, Mr. Fletcher and everybody were building a community as well as making some awesome spoofs. There’s pride in the things you make yourself, be it your own version of Robocop or a city block where everybody’s a friend and neighbour.

Call it hokey, call it corny, call it late for dinner, but there’s a lot of truth in that I think. There’s simple pleasure in creating no matter what the end result looks like. A positive attitude and enthusiasm shine through production values or quality of talent; I believe Edward D. Wood Jr. built a career on that notion. But then again, so does Be Kind Rewind.