Be Kind Rewind ends with a community get-together that's meant to be as up-with-people and ebullient as an Obama campaign stop. Too bad the movie tries to get there on a ragged wing and a doggerel prayer.

Some of the smartest people around have been yearning so strongly for renewal that they take any skeptical or realistic jibe as a mortal slight. The only hope for Be Kind Rewind, a pathetic new piece of whimsy from the cult fantasist Michel Gondry, is that it taps into those inchoate expectations of change flooding the country. But can its fans overcome the snorts of audiences who may still have their wits about them?

Be Kind Rewind (New Line Cinema) Starring Jack Black, Mos Def. Directed by Michel Gondry. Rated PG-13 for some sexual references. Time 101 minutes.