Having tremendously enjoyed "Get Shorty," I was ready to view the continuing adventures of Chili Palmer. Alas, the first sign of disappointment came with the PG-13 rating. How exactly an adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel can be nothing short of "R" is beyond me. While the finished results aren't TERRIBLE, "Be Cool" leaves much to be desired.

"Get Shorty" ended with former loan shark Chili Palmer firmly establishing himself as a film producer, with his enemies dead or in police custody. The humor in the first film was sly and original, clever, but never obvious. It featured terrific acting from John Travolta as Chili, Gene Hackman as an eccentric film producer, and Danny Devito as a Hollywood celebrity. These were great characters who simply cried for a sequel.

In "Be Cool," Chili is disallusioned by the film industry, and he tries to break into the music business. The results look like the dumber young brother to "Get Shorty."

The cast is great, but the acting is subpar. Chili is still a great character, but Travolta seems to have blown off the entire acting job. Uma Thurman as the music producer he falls in love with contributes nothing to the story. She has proven herself to be a commendable actress, but her work here reeks of disinterest. Harvey Keitel as an evil music producer who intends to kill Chili is a throw away role. Vince Vaughn is yet another "white man who thinks he's black" character. Vaughn works better than Keitel. Whenever the story requires him to be a villain, he works. But whenever he is supposed to be zany comic relief, he falls completely flat. Cedric the Entertainer plays the same character he always plays as a gangster record producer who is also out to get Chili. He has the film's worst moment, a long monologue about about the importance of blacks to American culture that is simply painful to listen to. Cedric's crew of gangsters is made up of stereotypes, including as relentlessly irritating character played by "music artist" Andre 3000. Strangely, the best performance in the entire film is from Dwayne Johnson, AKA The Rock. He oozes charisma as Vaughn's gay bodyguard. I have often said he deserves to be America's next big action star. Here he shows that he can also be hilarious in addition to just action.

Other than the tired cast, problems exist within the script. Elmore Leonard dialogue is hard to adapt, and the screenwriter nor the director know how to present it.

The film as a whole works like Vaughn's character, interesting and amusing when it's being serious, but whenever the painful and immature comedy begins, it becomes painful.

Thankfully, The Rock and a few excellent scenes save this film from being a complete waste of time. If you want an intelligent two hours, by all means check out "Get Shorty." But in-between the racial jokes and the slapstick, there's an interesting story that cries for a great presentation. Not even a Travolta/Thurman dance scene helps the film. Scenes like this don't work; the film references itself far too often, and it expects that everyone in the audience is familiar with previous films the cast has been involved in.

I'm being generous, I know, but the many detractors while irritating, don't detract from the fact that the film is breezy and easy to watch. Don't waste your time unless you really want to see it. There's nothing special

© Written by Jacob Hall

How We Rated This Film TC Candler -     Richard Propes - C- Jacob Hall - C+

TC Candler's Comment

n/a

Richard Propes' Comment

Do you remember those kids in high school who tried desperately to fit in? They changed their clothes, their hair, their style, their behavior? Wasn't it almost painful to watch someone completely sell themselves out for a little bit of popularity? Meet John Travolta. Travolta does his best imitation of himself being cool, and it's almost achingly painful to watch.