John Travolta has made many movies during his career. Travolta was in Get Shorty, an entertaining movie about someone in the mob getting into the movie business. The movie was popular. Now after ten years a sequel, Be Cool, has been released. There really wasn’t a need for another movie featuring that character, but I did hope it would end up being good. I finally got the chance to see it and really enjoyed it.

Chili Palmer has been in the movie business for several years. He was getting tired of certain things related to the business and thinking of getting out. Tommy Athens, the owner of a record label, and Chili had known each other for years. Tommy was trying to convince Chili to make a movie about his work in the music industry when he was gunned down. Chili decided to go and see Linda Moon, the young unknown singer Tommy had told him about. Chili thought she had what it took and didn’t care for the way her manger, Raji, treated her. Chili decided he was getting Linda out of her contract. Raji’s bodyguard, Elliot, was more interested in trying to get a movie audition than throwing Chili out.

Chili also knew Tommy’s widow, Edie. He thought that Edie should produce Linda. After hearing Linda sing, Edie agreed. They started working on the CD before Edie found out that Linda was under contract with Nick Carr, the man that owned the record company Raji worked for. Chili was planing to get the contract someway. Edie also had some problems with the business to worry about. Tommy owed Sin LaSalle, a well known record producer, a lot of money. Sin wanted his money immediately, but Chili got him to agree to wait several days for payment. Nick and Raji were trying to keep Linda under contract, and came up with a plan to get rid of Chili. Elliot was helping Raji, but he kept hoping Chili would get him a movie audition. Chili and Edie worked out plans to get Linda out of her contract and promoted, including an idea that involved Steven Tyler and Aerosmith.

There was a lot going on in Be Cool, making the plot rather complicated. Everything that happened was somehow connected to everything else. I didn’t have a problem following the various plot threads. The movie did jump around between the different threads throughout the entire movie. There were sub plots that didn’t get much attention at all before they were wrapped up. Most of the characters really didn’t have that many scenes. Chili was in most of them, interacting with all the different characters. He did spend the most time with Edie, so she had a decent amount of time as well. I didn’t feel like anything was left unresolved by the end of the movie. Since everything ended up being connected in some way, I don’t know that anything could have been left out. The movie worked, though some people may be bothered by the way it jumped around. Some things just seemed to work out conveniently, like how Steven Tyler remembered Edie when they hadn’t seen each other in years.

Be Cool made me laugh several times throughout the movie, though I don’t really think it was a hilarious movie. Some of the humor was a bit dark, like when Tommy was shot. The man that shot him didn’t just hit Tommy, but everything in the area, including Chili’s car. Also, when firing, the man ended up jerking, which caused his toupe to flop around on his head. Elliot really made me laugh most of the time he was in a scene. Dabu, one of the men that was with Sin most of the time, was also funny. Dabu was related to Sin’s wife. He wasn’t the smartest person in the movie, and he had trouble with guns. Some scenes should have been more serious but ended up being funny because of what one character did. An example of that is a scene when Sin and his group showed up in the middle of the night to talk to Chili about the money they were owed. It was made funny by the fact that Dabu couldn’t seem to figure out how to sit on the very low chair he was in. He kept changing positions and twisting around until he finally shot off his gun. There were some things done for humor, like Raji acting like he thought he was black, that could be offensive to some viewers. Elliot was gay, which provided more laughs throughout the movie. He wasn’t a stereotypical gay character like has been in other movies. Chili ended up with a very small rental car that made me laugh every time I saw it. The car also connected back to Get Shorty when Chili called it the Cadillac of hybrids. In that movie, he ended up with a mini van that he called the Cadillac of mini vans.

Just a few minutes after Be Cool started, there was a murder. Tommy and Chili were sitting at a table outside of a little coffee shop or restaurant and Chili and gone inside when it happened. The shooter was shown as he fired off every round in his gun, so Tommy wasn’t shown when he was hit, but his body was shown laying on the ground. Later in the movie there was some more violence, including someone being murdered with a baseball bat. There were a few fights in the movie, but nothing too excessive. I didn’t think that the movie was that violent, but other people may feel differently. Most of the time when there was some violence, there was also humor in the scene. One time, right after Sin was introduced as a character, he went outside where he beat up someone in the back of a Hummer. It was funny though because he was beating on the guy with a spatula. That is the type of violence that was used most of the time. There wasn’t much blood shown at any point in the movie.

There were many characters in Be Cool. Several were really under used and rather flat. That didn’t bother me too much since the movie was entertaining. Sin and the group he was with in a few scenes were stereotypes of rappers being involved in crime in some way. The group wore very baggy pants that showed off the top of their boxer shorts and all of them carried at least one gun all the time. Dabu was funny, but he was very flat. Linda Moon was a little more important to the main plot, so her development was slightly better, but there was still room for improvement. Elliot was a very funny, entertaining character that I really liked, though he wasn’t developed too much. I would have enjoyed it if he had been in more of the movie. Raji was a unique character. There was never any explanation for why he acted the way he did. Edie had a decent amount of scenes, but she wasn’t too developed either. Chili had been established in the first movie, so there wasn’t too much added to his development.

The acting in Be Cool was very good. John Travolta was great as Chili. He was calm, cool, and collected no matter what situation the character ended up in. Travolta was perfect for the part and I don’t know who else could play the part. Uma Thurman was good in part as Edie. She and Travolta worked together before in Pulp Fiction. They danced together in that movie in a scene that became very well known. They did a similar scene in this movie. They did have chemistry together. I think their characters were supposed to have known each other for a while, and that did come through their performances. Vince Vaughn was very good as Raji, a very unique character. The character could have ended up being over board, but Vaughn made it work. Cedric the Entertainer was fine as Sin. Andre Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000 from Outkast, was good as Dabu. He didn’t have a lot to work with, but I thought he did well in the part. He was very funny in some of his scenes. Christina Milian was good as Linda. She could sing and she looked the part of a young, sexy, hopeful singer. James Woods showed up briefly as Tommy at the beginning of the movie. He did have one of the smaller parts, but he was still good. Danny DeVito returned as Martin, the character he played in Get Shorty. It has been a long time since I’ve seen that movie, but I think he had a bigger part in it. Harvey Keitel was good as Nick. Steven Tyler showed up a few times as himself. Robert Pastorelli, who died in 2004, had a small part. I had forgotten that he was supposed to be in the movie, so it was a little shocking to see him since I knew he had died.

I loved The Rock as Elliot. I thought that the character was really funny, and some of the humor from the character came from the fact that The Rock was playing the part. In every other movie I’ve seen him in, he was playing a more tough guy type of character. Elliot was completly different. He even sang at one point, and did a scene from the movie Bring it On. It was hilarious to see The Rock doing lines from a movie about cheerleading. I thought he was really great in the part. When I first saw the previews, I didn’t recognize him because of how his hair was and he had a goatee, though I did think he looked familiar. I figured out it was him when he did that thing he can do with his eyebrow. He did that a few times in the movie and the way it was done did make me laugh. The character could have ended up being over the top, but The Rock made him work. This part shows that he can play more than just the more macho type of roles he’s done so far.

CHARACTERS

Chili Palmer - Former member of the mob that became a successful movie producer. He was growing tired of the movie business and decided he wanted to get into the music business. He did care about his friends. He ended up in a lot of extreme situations, but he never panicked. He was always cool and collected no matter what was going on around him.

Tommy Athens - He had started a record label with his wife. Tommy wanted Chili to make a movie about him.

Edie Athens - Tommy’s widow. She had started the company with her husband and was determined to keep the company running. She also knew Chili and ended up working with him to sign a young, talented singer.

Linda Moon - Young, sexy, very talented singer that Chili decided to help. She also wrote her own songs.

Raji - Linda’s manager. For some reason, he thought he was black. Some of what he said didn’t make sense.

Elliot - Raji’s bodyguard. Elliot was gay and wanted to be an actor. He wasn’t flamboyant, but he did seem to enjoy shopping for shiny boots. Elliot didn’t like the way Raji treated him at times, but he continued to work for him.

Sin LaSalle - He was a well known, successful record producer. He had a young daughter that he loved and was very protective of. He carried a large gun around most of the time.

Dabu - He was related to Sin’s wife. Dabu was in a rap group that Sin had worked with. The group also tended to carry large guns around. They seemed to be muscle for Sin. Dabu wasn’t the smartest of the group.

Nick Carr - Owner of a record company where Raji worked. Nick was in control even though Raji kept saying they were partners. Nick and Chili knew each other. Nick didn’t want to loose Linda to another label.

CAST

Andre Benjamin - Dabu
Cedric the Entertainer - Sin LaSalle
Danny DeVito - Martin
Harvey Keitel - Nick Carr
Christina Milian - Linda Moon
Robert Pastorelli - Joe Loop
The Rock - Elliot
Uma Thurman - Edie Athens
John Travolta - Chili Palmer
Vince Vaughn - Raji
James Woods - Tommy Athens

Be Cool was released in March of 2005. The movie was rated PG-13 and almost two hours long. There was some swearing in the movie, including one use of the word that rhymes with luck. The violence and a few sexual situations and conversations also contributed to the rating. Some of the female characters, including Edie and Linda, wore very skimpy outfits in a scene or two, but there was no nudity and no sex scenes in the movie. The Rock was shirtless once late in the movie. Be Cool was based on the book of the same name written by Elmore Leonard, the same man that wrote Get Shorty. I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know what might have been changed. This isn't a movie for childern.

I really enjoyed Be Cool. There really wasn’t a need to make a sequel to Get Shorty after ten years, but I think it turned out good. It was entertaining and funny. People that enjoyed Get Shorty may also like this one since it features the same main character. Fans of John Travolta should see the movie.

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Recommended: Yes