Be Cool [DVD] [2005]

Be Cool has a similar feel to Get Shorty, but the plot is not quite so clever. None the less it makes for enjoyable viewing and I didn't feel I had wasted my time by renting it. John Travolta is right at home in his role - oozing confidence through out the film. There are lots of other top actors and singers in here as well and they all look as if they are really enjoying themselves. I would recommend this even if if is not quite as good as Get Shorty.

Before I saw this sequel, I had heard and read that it was a terrible film. However, Be Cool is still an enjoyable comedy even if it's not as good as the original. It's full of so much self-deprecating humor that you can't help but cut it a break. I laughed quite a few times, and there are a lot of fun moments.

However, the film is a bit uneven. The movie tries hard to find the humor in hit men and quirky characters, but it often seems to be trying a bit too hard. John Travolta reprises his role as Chili Palmer, Hollywood gangster, who now turns his eye to the music business. Using his "negotiation skills," he tries to run an independent record label with the wife of a murdered friend, played by Uma Thurman, and try to get his young singer (Christina Milian) a hit record.

An impressive cast is what saves the movie from sinking. The best performance is given by The Rock and it's nice to see him in a different type of role. Vince Vaughn also gives a funny performance though he started to get annoying before the end. Surprisingly, Uma Thurman gives an average performance and I was expecting more from her. John Travolta done an average job in his role but his performance was kind of dull. Christina Milian gives a horrible performance and she's also not that good of a singer. Cedric the Entertainer gives a good performance though he isn't in the film for very long. Andre 3000 had some funny moments and done a decent job as well. There are also a bunch of cameos including Steven Tyler and James Wood.

F. Gary Gray directs and he does a poor job. He just doesn't handle the film very well and the movie is kind of a mess. There was also a ton of product placement and it got annoying after awhile. Also at 118 minutes, the film is too long and there are a lot of slow spots. The film needed to be edited badly and it clearly wasn't. Fortunately for the film, the actors are able to rise above the weak direction and script and they deliver some funny scenes. Sometimes, the film tried too hard while other times it was actually pretty funny. Compared to the original, the sequel doesn't measure up well. However, Be Cool is a fairly harmless and forgettable comedy. In the end, Be Cool is worth a rental and that's it.

This is by no means a bad movie, it's pretty funny in places, its got a decent soundtrack, and it's fairly entertaining. However, it tries far too hard to adopt the same sense of humour of it's predecessor "Get Shorty", the result of which is a familiar plot full of copied jokes and lines from the first film.
The story follows Chilli Palmer (Tavolta) as he becomes involved in promoting Christina Milian's character as a professional musician. On the way he falls in love with his dead friend's (James Wood in an aweful cameo) wife Uma Thurman, who is really good in the roll, and very very attractive in her bathing suit! But he also has to avoid the russian mafia (?), a group of Hip Hop Gangstas headed by Andre 3000 from Outkast, as well as Harvey Keitel and Vince Vaughn who also want to produce Milian's first record. The tangled web of enemies is pretty well done, with all the bad guys ending up in trouble, and Travolta, Thurman and Milian striking large in the music industry.
The thing that really set's "Get Shorty" apart from this one is the cast, Gene Hackman was hilarious as "Harry Zimm", as was Dennis Farina as "Ray Bones", plus there was Delroy Lindo, James Gandolfini and the lovely Rene Russo. "Be Cool" is a mix up of actors and musicians in bad roles, with the exceptions of Thurman, Milian (Who is really lovely) and Andre 3000, who is actually pretty funny as the psychotic gangsta. However, Vince Vaughn's pimp character is ridiculously annoying, as is The Rock's gay bodygaurd character, and even Harvey Keitel and James Woods put in annoying performances. But the worst by far is Travolta, he's not really doing anything different here than he was in "Get Shorty", yet all the repeated lines and re-used jokes make his charcter loose so much of the cool credibility that he got from doing the first movie. It's a shame! I'd blame the writers personally.
So in conclusion, not a bad movie, but not as good as the original.