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Be Cool
Reviewed by Rich Drees
“Sequels,” former loan shark turned movie producer Chili Palmer
(John Travolta) ruefully muses in the opening moments of Be Cool,
a sequel to the 1995 comedy Get Shorty. “The only time I ever
gave into the studios I got hustled into a sequel.” When a film
starts off with such a disparaging moment of self-awareness, the
viewer should take note and probably sneak off into another
auditorium at the multiplex. It’s definitely what one should do if
they suddenly find themselves seated in the audience for Be Cool.
Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, Be Cool sees Travolta
returning to the role of Chili, the smooth crook who can either
sweet talk or strong-arm his way out of any situation. Evidently
having grown disenchanted with the movie business, he decides to
segue over to the world of pop music. With his eye for talent, he
soon becomes the manager for Linda Moon (Christina Milian), rescuing
her from her ineffectual manager, Raji (Vince Vaughn). Chili wants
Linda to record an album for the record label owned by Edie, the
widow (Uma Thurman) of a friend of Chili’s who was gunned down by
the Russian mafia over monies owed. When Chili tries to land a gig
for Linda to sing at an upcoming concert by the legendary rock band
Aerosmith, his efforts are hampered by not only Raji’s boss (Harvey
Keitel) and the Russian mob, but by another rival music executive
(Cedric The Entertainer).
In Get Shorty, Chili Palmer had an air of cool detachment
from his surroundings. Here, however, Travolta seems detached from
the role of Chili Palmer. It’s hard to be engaged with and root for
a character who seems bored by what’s going on around him. Even
reuniting Travolta with his Pulp Fiction (1994) co-star
Thurman fails to energize his performance, even when the pair do a
reprise of the memorable scene in Pulp Fiction where they
danced in a nightclub. There’s nothing here hasn’t been done before
and better.
Travolta’s performance is emblematic of the film’s problems as a
whole. The screenplay lifts several story beats from the original
film. The characters seem to know that they’re in a movie and the
film seems to be winking at the audience constantly over this fact.
It does provide a humorous moment early on where Chili explains to a
friend how one use of a certain four letter word beginning with the
letter “F” will earn a film a PG-13 rating, but using that word more
than once is an automatic “R”. The joke is a subtle poke at the
ratings system, Get Shorty’s use of the expletive and the
fact that Be Cool’s PG-13 rating was probably at least
partially earned due to this scene. However, as the film goes on,
the same style of self-aware jokes becomes increasingly more broad
and tiresome. Professional wrestler turned action star The Rock
turns up as a bodyguard whose homosexual nature is obvious to
everyone but himself. While an amusing conceit at first, the idea
never goes anywhere. Neither does Vaughn’s record executive
character who has immersed himself into black urban street culture
to the point of self-parody. By the time Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler
shows up and makes a comment about not appearing in movies as
himself (Has he forgotten Wayne’s World 2 (1993) already?),
the movie has passed the point of no redeemable return. |
