Be Cool - Jeder ist auf der Suche nach dem nächsten großen Hit

I'm a fan of Get Shorty. This is the sequel for the movie that needed no sequel.

Chili is back but Rene Russo is gone without a peep. Unfortunately Chili's game was played out in the first movie and rather than find an interesting personal arc for him, they just have him stand around repeating lines from the first movie. It's pretty tepid. Travolta looks old here. It's like they move people around him because his bones are getting creaky. His pink lip gloss and the blue eye contacts are very weird. The 2nd bad role is Edie (played by Uma Thurman). She's a music producer, a role that requires her only to be the female Reuben Kincaid. ("Hey these kids have a great new sound.") In any scene she strikes the wrong pitch motivationally or emotionally or both. It's painful to watch. Despite it's plentiful problems, Be Cool gets better after a very unpromising start.

I certainly got my laughs out of it (Vince Vaughan running around on fire, Cedric the Entertainer, Ludicrous, the Rock, a t-shirt that says "widow" on it), but it offers no great memories after it's over. It's a helium-light love fest from the first frame. There's no one as pricelessly idiotic as Gene Hackman in the first movie. It's just about doing good in the world, for a couple of kids who deserve a chance (Beyonce & the Rock). Ho-hum. The first one wasn't preachy.

Working in (repeatedly) gags & lines from the first movie is annoying as is the dumb concession to the Rock's wrestling fans (he raises his eyebrow twice) as are the droll inside jokes: Steven Tyler saying "I'm not the kind of singer that make appearances in movies" ar ar.

The all-star spectacular line-up is part of the problem. The first movie wasn't burdened by "stars."

For a buck rental let's call it even.

Based on Elmore Leonard's novel, 'Be Cool' is an all around entertainer. Sequel to 'Get Shorty', Travolta is back as Chili Palmer and Danny Devito makes two cameo appearances. The rest of the fabulous cast includes the sensational Uma Thurman, a hilarious Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Andre Benjamin, Robert Pastorelli and Christina Milian. Harvey Keitel proves to be very good in comedy but the real surprise is Dwayne Johnson who shows a knack for being funny and probably has the funniest role.

F. Gary Gray does a neat job. The jokes work excellently. The film is well-paced and the writing is consistent. Steinfeld does a good job of rewriting Leonard's book for the big screen. The humour works excellently. None of the jokes fall flat and the cast and crew seem to have had a blast making this film.

It's a shame that the film wasn't as big a success as it's prequel. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than 'Get Shorty'. Above all, 'Be Cool' is a splendid entertainer that will draw loads of laughs.

The Shylock turned movie mogul is back for a sequel, and this time he is interested in music. The movie industry is just too fake whereas the people in the music industry are real. Chili Palmer, played by John Travolta, has the same antics and same behaviorisms. He is still smarter than the next guy, tougher than him too, and he can beat up your bodyguard.

More characters are introduced in "Be Cool" and they are more outrageous. Actors such as Vince Vaughn, The Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andre, bring some good flavor to the movie. Just like with "Get Shorty", there are other sub-plots that all tie together into the main plot and main character. The movie has more-or-less a similar theme and flow to it as "Get Shorty". I think there were a few more funny parts in "Be Cool", but it lacked the originality of "Get Shorty."

I noticed that there was a different director for this project. His resume' isn't that long, but he has done "Friday", "The Negotiator","The Italian Job", and he is on "The Brazilian Job" project. These weren't that bad, nor was "Be Cool". If he continues to improve from here, he will wind up with a very nice career.

John Travolta is back as Chili Palmer in Get Shorty's sequel, "Be Cool". Chili Palmer is a former movie producer (as seen in Get Shorty) who is a former mobster. He is not happy with how his career in the movies is going and decides to branch off in the music industry. It is in a somewhat seedy bar that Chili discovers Linda Moon (Christina Milian) working in a trio. Linda has a strong singing voice but is obviously going nowhere within her group. The movie is basically centered around Linda and her contract. Everybody seems to want it now that Chili has plans and knows what a talent she is.

Getting all the characters on-screen spread them all out a little bit thin, with some barely getting any screen time at all. Most of the better characters got more screen time than I thought they would have. Thankfully, the great chemistry between Vince Vaughn and The Rock gets quite a bit of screen time. Another newcomer who delivers a surprising performance is André Benjamin, or André 3000 as Dabu. Dabu is one of the many in Sin LaSalle's (Cedric The Entertainer) entourage, along with many very large men.

There are many more actors and actresses in this cast but the best characters were those mentioned above. Dustin Hoffman pulled off a great performance, as usual, but even he seemed overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Uma Thurman, Steven Tyler, Danny DeVito, James Woods, Harvey Keitel and many others round off this great cast. I doubt all these actors would commit to something as horrible as we are all led to believe.

The Rock is starting to branch out with his acting range. His big gay bodyguard routine was hilarious, as I doubt I'll ever forget his rendition of "You're Not Woman Enough To Take My Man". Rock and Vince Vaughn as the wannabe pimp complimented each other perfectly and along with Cedric, they are the highlights of the movie. Also, Christina Milian looks to be one of the hotter new actresses on her way up and I was impressed by what I assume was her lip-syncing performance with Steven Tyler. Look for her to be around for awhile.

This was a large cast and, for the most part, they all held their own. My honest review is that this movie is better than it is being given credit for, possibly due to the incredible amount of hype put into it, turning many viewers against it. I went into this movie with an open mind and not expecting a great movie and I came out entertained. Because of this, I can recommend this movie with a clear conscience.

We are born into the doom of being actors. If we are lucky we discover who we are but until then we go through a process of acting a role.

Some movies play with this idea, and "Get Shorty" was one of the most clever of these.

It had two elements: that notion of acting cool and the explicit self-reference of putting it in movies, complete with the command to "look at me."

Behind it was one of the coolest thinkers in cinema, Danny Devito who is a kind of patron saint of self-reference. He who made a film based on "Pale Fire" and whose "Death to Smoochy" is a pinnacle of sorts of introspective writing.

Now comes this, which starts out okay, along the same lines of heavy self-reference until we learn that Devito is to star in a biopic of Johnny Cash.

Then the grind of the inferior mind behind it begins.

Seems they had some idea that Uma Thurman fit into an intelligent enterprise somewhere.

Nope, none of the few things she can do fit into self-reference or folding in any way.

Seems they decided that a mere reference to performance wasn't enough, we had to have the whole pretty-girl-overcomes-adversity thing complete with several performances.

Nope, again.

And they figured that all the cool identity stuff would be carried by a white guy acting black and a black guy acting white.

Nope, nope , nope.

Go watch any Devito-inspired project rather than this.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.