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"Be Kind Rewind" (PG-13, 1 hr., 41 min.)
Not everyone will see the sparkle in this little off-the-wall comedy gem. Teens with mainstream taste may find it too odd or chaotic. But others, especially high-schoolers who like their comedy both smart and silly, ought to get major grins out of "Be Kind Rewind." Not only do co-stars Jack Black and Mos Def have a great time with what often sounds like a semi-improvised script, but writer/director Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," R, 2004) sets his story in economically depressed Passaic, N.J., and uses lots of non-actors in small roles. So the movie has both grit and a wonderful sense of humanity. A nicely developed subplot about one character's devotion to the memory of jazz musician Fats Waller adds a layer of reverence for cultural heritage.
Mike (Mos Def) is left in charge of the struggling independent Be Kind Rewind video store while his kindly boss Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) takes a trip. Mike's eccentric pal Jerry (Black), who lives in a trailer under an electric power station, tries to sabotage the place (he thinks it's messing with his brain) and gets zapped so hard, he becomes electromagnetized. When Jerry visits the video store, he inadvertently erases every single tape. Desperate not to fail Mr. Fletcher, Mike grabs an old video camera and he and Jerry create their own, 20-minute, low-budget knock-off of "Ghostbusters" (PG, 1984), starring themselves, for a nosy friend of Mr. Fletcher's (Mia Farrow). For other patrons they whip up "Rush Hour 2" (2001, PG-13), "RoboCop" (R, 1987), "The Lion King" (G, 1994) and more. Soon they're a local phenomenon. They coin a word for what they do -- sweding -- making your own version of a famous film.
"Be Kind Rewind" contains middling profanity, sexual innuendo, homophobic remarks, crude language and toilet humor.
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"Definitely, Maybe" (PG-13, 1 hr., 51 min.)
This a perfect movie for the primary season -- a smart, engaging, non-sappy romantic comedy, set against the world of politics and seen through the prism of a young man's banged-up idealism. "Definitely, Maybe" will appeal more to high-schoolers and college kids because it is about the real, not the idealized, aspects of growing up. The film is OK for most teens, but it does contain clinical sexual language (spoken by a child emerging from a sex-ed class), other mild sexual innuendo, gently implied overnight trysts, midrange profanity, smoking and drinking.
Will (Ryan Reynolds) is an about-to-be divorced dad in New York. His little girl Maya (Abigail Breslin), on one of her visits, demands that he tell her about the three women he says he has loved in his life, changing their names so she can try to guess which one turned out to be her mother. Maya longs to glean information that might help her reunite her parents. Will's account unfolds in a series of flashbacks. We see him leaving his University of Wisconsin sweetheart, Emily (Elizabeth Banks), after their 1992 graduation to go to work for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in New York. There he meets sarcastic April (Isla Fisher) and ambitious would-be journalist Summer (Rachel Weisz). Will can never quite figure out which woman he truly loves and whether he's even ready for commitment. And we see his disillusionment with love parallel his disappointment at the president's sex scandals. Writer/director Adam Brooks' approach is particularly strong when Will and his pals argue about all this. He really captures the essence of being 20-something.
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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME
-- OK FOR KIDS 6 AND OLDER:
"Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" PG -- The close-ups of ecstatic little girls in the audience during this cotton-candy concert spectacle crystallize the love that tweens -- and girls either side of them in age -- have for singer/actress Miley Cyrus and her Disney Channel persona, a teen with a secret life as pop star Hannah Montana. Shot in digital 3-D (guitar picks and fans' waving arms really jump out at you), the movie showcases Cyrus singing and dancing as Hannah Montana, then as herself. Kids will love the backstage "reality" moments. The costumes are sparkly but not revealing, nor is Cyrus overaccessorized. The cheerleaderish dancing only gets mildly provocative during a tango. The whole thing amounts to a big promotional music video, but for kids it's 74 minutes of harmless fun.
-- OK FOR KIDS 10 AND OLDER:
"The Spiderwick Chronicles" PG -- The idea of kids visiting fairy realms is neat, but this film (adapted from books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black) only captures some of the magic. It may be too intense for kids under 10 because it lacks enough humor to balance out the scary bits. The child characters are wonderfully human and the finale a whimsical riff on mortality, but in-between, the magical creatures are mostly slobbering goblins, ogres, and trolls, all trying to kill the kids. The gentle sprites and sylphs don't hang around long enough to lighten the mood. Young Jared (Freddie Highmore), a boy with anger issues, moves with his twin brother Simon (Highmore), his teen sister (Sarah Bolger) and their mom (Mary-Louise Parker) into an old house inherited from an ancestor, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn in flashback). Jared discovers Spiderwick's "Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You," and the book's magical protector, the tiny brownie Thimbletack (voice of Martin Short), is furious at the intrusion. Then the ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) and his goblin army come after Jared and his siblings. Hogsqueal (Seth Rogen), a bird-eating hobgoblin, helps the kids, spitting into their eyes (yech!) so they can see the fairy world. There are chases and swordplay. The kids get gashes in their arms, and there's lots of green goblin blood. There is also a divorce theme.
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"Be Kind Rewind" (NEW) -- In this comic gem from writer/director Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," R, 2004), Mos Def plays Mike, the clerk at a struggling video rental store in depressed Passaic, N.J. When his kindly boss (Danny Glover) leaves him in charge for a few days, disaster strikes. Mike's eccentric pal Jerry (Jack Black) accidentally erases every tape in the store, because his body picked up an electromagnetic charge when he tried to sabotage the local power station. In desperation, the two guys grab a video camera and try to recreate "Ghostbusters" (PG, 1984), starring themselves, for one nosy neighbor (Mia Farrow). Their improvised 20-minute version catches on and they do more -- "Rush Hour 2" (2001, PG-13), "RoboCop" (R, 1987) "The Lion King" (G, 1994). The gritty reality of the location, and the use of local non-actors in some roles, give the film a wonderful humanity amid the hilarity. It has middling profanity, sexual innuendo and toilet humor. For teens who like their comedy smart and silly.
"Definitely, Maybe" (NEW) -- This is a treat -- a smart, engaging, non-sappy romantic comedy, set against the world of politics and seen through the prism of a young man's banged-up idealism. Ryan Reynolds plays Will, an about-to-be divorced New Yorker whose young daughter (Abigail Breslin) on one of her twice-weekly visits begs him to tell her about the three women he says he's loved in his life, but to change their names, so she can try to guess which one became her mother. Will tells the story in flashback, and we learn how he left his sweetheart (Elizabeth Banks) at the University of Wisconsin in 1992 to work for Bill Clinton's campaign in New York, met a cute but sarcastic campaign employee (Isla Fisher) and an ambitious would-be journalist (Rachel Weisz) and how he couldn't figure out which of the three women was his true love and whether he could commit. Writer/director Adam Brooks does a great job showing how Clinton's personal scandals affected Will and his pals. The movie uses clinical sexual language (spoken by a child emerging from a sex-ed class), other mild sexual innuendo, gently implied overnight trysts, midrange profanity, smoking and drinking. OK for most teens.
"Step Up 2 the Streets" -- A cliche-ridden script and dance sequences that only occasionally catch fire make this sequel to the 2006 dance film "Step Up" (PG-13) an uninspiring event. The more exuberant "How She Move" (PG-13) is still in theaters -- hint, hint. In "Step Up 2 the Streets" Briana Evigan plays Andie, a rebellious, motherless teen who cuts school and step dances with a street crew in inner-city Baltimore. Warned by her guardian to shape up, she auditions for an arts high school and is accepted, but she finds the ballet discipline tough. Then she meets the school's star dancer (Robert Hoffman). Along with the class nerd (Adam G. Sevani), they start a team to go against Andie's old crew in a street competition. Some supporting characters are fun, but the film feels inert and African-American characters are inexcusably stereotyped. The film contains mild fighting, implied drinking, rare suggestive dance moves, verbal sexual innuendo, occasional mild profanity. OK for most teens.
"Jumper" -- Perhaps it was intended as a new kind of superhero saga, but "Jumper" is a mess, its intriguing moral and sci-fi themes muddled by special effects and narrative incoherence. Hayden Christensen plays David, who discovers as a teen (played by Max Thieriot in a prologue) that he can "teleport" himself out of nearly drowning. He uses his new powers to escape an unhappy life (hints of an alcoholic parent), hurtling through the space-time continuum to the Pyramids or Paris in the blink of an eye. He raids bank vaults and grows into a rich, selfish man (Christensen). Then a cult leader (Samuel L. Jackson) who believes teleporters break God's law gets on his trail and "Jumper" turns into a dull chase movie. David and another teleporter (Jamie Bell) take on their enemies at the Roman Coliseum and elsewhere. David also reconnects with a high-school sweetheart (Rachel Bilson) unaware of his powers. A stabbing is bloodless but intense. Other violence is nongraphic. There is a pre-sexual situation with kissing and removal of outer garments, other mild sexual innuendo, mild profanity, drinking and toilet humor. OK for most teens.
"Fool's Gold" -- This romantic adventure comedy is true to its title. It is shiny and worthless, with a torturously contrived plot and co-stars (Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson) who create little on-screen spark. McConaughey, ever shirtless, plays a reckless treasure hunter who gets on the wrong side of a violent rap star (Kevin Hart) when he hunts for treasure off the guy's Caribbean island. His fed-up wife (Hudson), about to divorce him, gets drawn into the dilemma, as do the millionaire (Donald Sutherland) on whose yacht she works and his silly daughter (Alexis Dziena). The movie contains a lot of mayhem, some of it comic -- gunfire, fighting, some blood -- as well as profanity, crude language, brief toplessness, much mild sexual innuendo, scenes that imply sexual situations out of camera range, and drinking. Its one useful theme is that girls need to be smart, not play dumb. Not really for middle-schoolers.
"Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" -- The jokes are broad and more than occasionally raunchy, and the story is cliched, but this movie is still a tonic, full of boisterous laughs and genuine humanity, embodied in a cast of expert comic actors. Martin Lawrence plays a famous TV shrink who goes home to Georgia with his trophy fiancee (Joy Bryant) and neglected young son (Damani Roberts). There he finds that his stern father (James Earl Jones), outsize siblings (Michael Clarke Duncan and Mo'Nique), cousins (Mike Epps and Cedric the Entertainer) and childhood sweetheart (Nicole Ari Parker) all think he's a tad too full of himself. The movie touches on withheld parental affection and childhood bullying, too. It is an iffy choice for middle-schoolers, with much verbal and visual sexual innuendo, profane dialogue, crude sexual slang, a few racial slurs, and implied nudity.
-- AN R:
"Charlie Bartlett" (NEW) -- Adults and high-schoolers 17 and older are the best audience for this acerbic, but deeply humane comedy. Its portrayal of prescription drug abuse, occasional overdoses, alcoholism and suicide attempts make it a poor choice for younger teens, but perhaps revelatory for the oldest. Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin), a bright, rich and enterprising 17-year-old with an underdeveloped moral compass and a loving but distracted mom (Hope Davis), starts selling prescription psychiatric drugs such as Ritalin and Xanax to kids at his public high school. (He was expelled from his private school for selling fake driver's licenses.) He fills the Rx's his own shrink gives him in response to fake symptoms. And he listens to his "customers'" troubles with sympathy and advice. The principal (Robert Downey Jr.), a depressive with a drinking problem himself, has his eye on Charlie, and Charlie has his eye on the principal's daughter (Kat Dennings). The movie also includes marijuana use, smoking, bullies beating students, gunfire, profanity, a homophobic slur, toplessness, an implied teen sexual situation, other mildish sexual innuendo, and talk of a kid's promiscuity.
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