BE KIND REWIND (Alliance) Michel Gondry’s latest advocates the notion that “the best movies are the ones we make ourselves.” The advice curdles when we realize that the film’s dim-witted video-jockey heroes (Jack Black and Mos Def) are merely recycling Hollywood crap for a film-illiterate constituency. The themes of Be Kind Rewind are half-baked (do we really need an elegy for VHS, that most debased of formats?), but the staging of the various micro-budget pastiches is frequently hilarious — never more so than in a cat-assisted homage to Ghostbusters’ freaky-fridge hijinks. The loose, communal vibe, meanwhile, is a welcome carry-over from Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. Extras: behind-the-scenes, “Passaic Mosaic” featurette.
CHAOS THEORY (Warner) In the wake of an unexpected revelation, a clenched efficiency expert (Ryan Reynolds) spins wildly out of control and towards liberation. Chaos Theory reads as a lame identity-crisis comedy and it was marketed like one, too. But a few months after it flitted through theatres, Marcos Siega’s ambitious but uneven film has stayed with me — parts of it, anyway. The biological O. Henry twist that puts the plot into motion isn’t entirely novel (it was recently featured in the Bosnian drama It’s Hard to Be Nice) but there’s something revelatory in Reynolds’ performance. This most fastidious of contemporary comic leading men is always best when being brought down a peg (see also: Just Friends), and he’s given fine support by Emily Mortimer in an unusually complicated wife ’n’ mother part. Extras: additional scenes.
Also out this week
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS (Mongrel) Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s 2007 Palme D’Or winner has been heralded as a showcase for its lead actresses — appropriately for a film about female friendship under extreme circumstances — but it’s Vlad Ivanov, as the unscrupulous under-the-table abortionist Dr. Bebe, who leaves the most lasting impression. Extras: Interview with the director (Cristian Mungiu), interview with the director of photography (Oleg Mutu), 1 month with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: a documentary.
FOOL’S GOLD (Warner) Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are a long way from Tracy and Hepburn (or even Douglas and Turner) in their second neo-screwball pairing, which at least has the good sense to keep them in swimwear for most of its duration. Extras: documentary, gag reel.
Out June 24
Bonneville, Charlie Bartlett, Definitely, Maybe, Honeydripper and Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs, which diehards (like me) hope will be a billion times better than Bender’s Big Score.