Everybody's got a gun and everybody wants to make a movie, including director F. Gary Gray. Whether or not they really should is another question. And whether or not Chili Palmer (Get Shorty, 1995) should return in a washed-out sequel to conquer the music business is yet another valid question.
"Washed-out" really captures what I felt to be wrong at the heart of Be Cool. It has none of the grit and excitement that made Get Shorty great; it's a big blockbuster sequel, which means it's super shiny, so shiny that it glosses over the fact that the plot is weak and the chemistry between leads superficial.
Clearly at the heart of the void that is Be Cool are issues with maintaining its cast and crew. Barry Sonnenfeld, director of Get Shorty, didn't come onboard, and Brett Ratner dropped out of the project, before production began. With such a lack of leadership and vision, this movie is a true product of the studios, so perhaps its mechanical lack of grace and inspiration is really no surprise.
Both films (original and sequel) are based on Elmore Leonard books, but if a sequel, were ever a sequel this one certainly qualifies. In Get Shorty, Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a Brooklyn Shylock who's been transplanted to Miami. He gets sent to Vegas after a bad debt, and while there, a casino boss enlists Chili to "make good" on an even bigger debt, with Hollywood producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman). While negotiating with Zimm, Chili tells him he has an idea for a movie, and the rest is history.
This scenario works because we can believe that Chili wants to be in the movies; he's clearly dissatisfied with his life and the character is developed as a movie buff. But we have no reason to believe, as Be Cool asks us to, that Chili would want to leave the movie business - least of all for the music business - and it seems to be no more than a ploy to advance the career of Christina Milian, though she is admittedly charming in the film.
Also missing from the movie is a true antagonist. I love Harvey Keitel. He is incredible, a simply great actor; but he just didn't do it for me in the role of Nick Carr, the rival manager who has Linda Moon (Milian) under contract. In this film, Keitel displays none of the charisma or grittiness that Dennis Farina brought to Get Shorty as Ray "Bones" Barboni. And without a great rival gangster, Chili doesn't really work.
The other casting issue is clearly Uma Thurman. Again, I'm a big fan, but from the first moment she appears on the screen it's clear that they were trying to recreate their chemistry in Pulp Fiction (1994), and it just never happens. They're charming, and beautiful, but their dialogue fizzles.
Be Cool is a movie that knows it's a sequel, and in a way that I'm sure they meant to be ironic, but comes off as base and urbane, it contains many disparaging references to sequels. They would have done well to remember that before you lampoon the low quality of the average sequel, you'd better make sure your movie isn't an average sequel itself.
So you thought this was going to be a bad review, didn't you? Well, it's not going to be, because as bad a movie as it truly is, I had a great time. And surely that has some merit. Now, I would never call it a good film, or cinema verite, but as a movie, I don't have complaints. Vince Vaughn is hilarious as Raji, a wannabe black, wannabe gangster manager. Also, surprisingly, The Rock does a great job as the narcissistic and obviously gay bodyguard, Eliot Wilhelm.
It really shouldn't work for me, but it does. It catches me being snobby and makes me laugh hard enough to forget that I was ever snobby in the first place. Don't expect depth, don't expect grace, but if you're looking for a good time all you need is the price of a matinee ticket and you're golden. Plus, it's Travolta...come on!
