Be Cool [DVD] [2005]

This sequel to Get Shorty (which I've never seen) has its ups and downs and is actually pretty ridiculous. Writers Elmore Leonard (novel) and Peter Steinfeld (screenplay) add a bunch of silly concepts to enhance the comic factor. Some of these are quite funny, others not so much. Linda's current producer is Raji (Vince Vaughn), a white guy who's trying desperately to be black to enhance his street cred. Vaughn's probably the funniest thing in the film as every word he utters makes him out to be a whiteboy trying to be a homeboy. He's also a coward at heart, though he's not above a little violence if he thinks it's necessary. He doesn't like the tables turned on him, though, and the confrontation in Nick Carr's (Harvey Keitel) office between all the various factions is hilarious partially because of Vaughn.

Be Cool coasts along on the charm of its leads, and Travolta tries very hard to deliver. Unfortunately, often Travolta seems more detached than sure of himself. It's obvious that Chili knows exactly what he's doing (sometimes being a bit too perfect), but Travolta goes that extra step as if he's a bit above the entire thing instead of immersed in it. Then he gives that twisted smirk and everything's all right for the moment. Uma Thurman is gorgeous and flighty, but every time Edie defers to Chili, she puts the lie to her statement at the beginning of the movie that she doesn't need any help. I wish she would have been a bit stronger herself rather than relying on Chili all the time.

Other acting caveats have to go to Cedric the Entertainer and The Rock. Cedric was fun to watch, and his reactions to Dabu were hilarious, as Dabu continuously does stupid and silly things. Evidently, Dabu is his wife's cousin, and he promised her that he'd take care of him, so he has to put up with it. When Dabu drinks tea at Edie's house, Cedric's reaction is great. As for The Rock, he is perfectly against type and I thought he did a magnificent job with what he was given. As Elliot Wilhelm, Raji's bodyguard and henchman, he is a remarkable discovery for those who have only seen him in action films. And to think of a pro wrestler playing a gay actor trying to make it big with audition monologues from Bring It On is almost unimaginable without actually seeing it.

Unfortunately, there are some things that keep the movie from being a standout. The musical sequences go on way too long and don't move the plot forward at all. This is a comic caper flick, not a musical, people! Three whole songs with not much happening in the background (other than reaction shots) just drag the film to a halt. Surely they could have just played snippets? And yes, it was kind of cool to see Aerosmith in concert, but if I really wanted to do that, I could rent one of their DVDs. (As an aside, I thought Steven Tyler was great in this movie, proving his self-referential statement in the movie that he doesn't just do movies in order to do them. He's actually pretty substantial.)

What's even worse is the Black-Eyed Peas song. No, the song is great, but the sequence in the movie stinks. Rather than being a true homage to Pulp Fiction, Thurman and Travolta dancing in this sequence just screams "Look at us! We got Travolta and Thurman to dance again!! Fans of Pulp Fiction will love us!" No, not really. It's pointless and again wastes time. This movie was almost two hours long, and it didn't need to be. Be Cool has long sequences where nothing much happens and nothing funny is going on. The dance and the songs are the main culprits here, but there are other small scenes as well that don't move anything forward.

My final criticism is one exceptionally unrealistic turn of events. Yes, the movie is over the top anyway so believability isn't paramount, but the fate of Nick Carr just screamed "plot contrivance!" This is especially true because he tried to pull the same stunt on Chili earlier in the movie. I sincerely doubt that he's going to fall for it himself at the end. But he does, and he's taken care of. Ho hum.

Be Cool is certainly worth taking in at least once. It's has many funny moments and I was entertained. Don't expect anything breathtaking, and it may be right up your alley. Whether my enjoyment of it is heightened because I didn't have Get Shorty to compare it to, I don't know. But if you catch it on the movie channel, it's worth a watch.

David Roy