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Be Cool (2005)
Released By: MGM Home Entertainment   Rating: PG-13   In Theaters: 3/4/2005
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Studio: MGM Home Entertainment
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: F Gary Gary
Language: English
Official Website: http://www.mgm.com/becool/
Theatrical Release: 3/4/2005
Home Video Release: 6/7/2005
Cast: Danny DeVito, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Rock, The, Cedric the Entertainer
Published ID: 343563
UPC: 027616927200, 027616928412, 027616121295,
Plot: Underworld hipster Chili Palmer is back in the entertainment business in this sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty, which like the first film is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard. Gangster-turned-movie producer Chili (once again played by John Travolta) has grown tired of the screen trade, especially after his latest project turned out to be a box-office flop. Chili is looking for new horizons and thinks he may have found his niche when his close friend Tommy Athens (James Woods), a fellow mobster who runs an independent record label, is murdered by Russian gangsters. Chili takes over Athens' record company, Nothing to Lose Records, and begins courting Tommy's girlfriend, Edie (Uma Thurman). Edie is an experienced hand in record production, and together she and Chili spot what would seem to be the ideal act for their label -- Linda Moon (Christina Milian), a beautiful young woman with a powerhouse voice. Linda is stuck, however, in a going-nowhere R&B trio managed by the monumentally sleazy Raji (Vince Vaughn). Chili isn't much concerned about Linda's contract with Raji, but Raji certainly is, and the manager soon takes out a contract on Chili with the same Russian hoods who killed Tommy. Soon Chili is facing all the action he can handle between the Russian gunmen, a music mogul named Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) who wants Chili to stay out of the business, and Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer), a successful hip-hop producer who wants Chili to pay him the 300,000 dollars he is owed by Tommy. Be Cool also features appearances by The Rock as a gay Samoan bodyguard, Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000 from the hip-hop duo Outkast) as a rapper who isn't very good with a gun, and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Be Cool
Added 1/16/2010

Streetwise mobster-turned-movie producer Chili Palmer is back, but this time Chili has abandoned the fickle movie industry and veered into the music business, tangling with Russian mobsters and gangsta rappers and taking a talented, feisty young singer named Linda Moon under his wing. From the recording studio to an Aerosmith concert to the MTV Music Awards, he manipulates events to watch them play out the Chili way, using his signature blend of wiseguy skills and negotiation tactics. It's a dangerous business, and everyone's looking for their next big hit. Be Cool is a fairly harmless and forgettable comedy.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
more dud than cool
Added 11/15/2009

I usu. write about music or movies that I really like...but I didn't like Be Cool. I like comedy, action, fun, even stereotypes, but Be Cool is just too much weak stuff, seen it before, not original, not gut-bustin comedy. Even the stereotype-characters are a dud; if it's been done before then change something!..to make it fun or interesting. Steve Tyler?...nah...his daughter maybe.
They could have salvaged the flick by having more of sexy Christine Millian as a super hoochie or bitchy vixen in patent leather, at least get a thrill with her.

Compared with say, Players Club, & Undercover Brother: both of those are also full of stereotypes & stuff we've seen before, but those two do it right, excellent movies full of action, comedy, soft & hard stuff, vixens.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
F. Gary Gray is a one of the more mediocre directors around
Added 10/31/2009

This is the first negative review I have ever put up on amazon but when you consider the tremendous acting talent, source material and the excellent first installment of this series it is truly an achievement to come up with such a boring, unfunny movie as Be Cool.

When watching this film I get the feeling that any other director would have done so much better.

Gray seems to have no concept at all of pacing or flow. Scenes drag on way too long (i.e. the Linda Moon/Aerosmith song..did we REALLY have to see the entire song..how about just a snippet), unfunny recurring jokes (russian guy getting punched in the eye) are employed and great actors like Harvey Keitel are completely underutilized.]

The Vince Vaughn and Rock characters are unfunny and cringe inducing and Linda Moon's singing is so generic sounding that it is hard to believe that she would ever get a second look much less play on stage with Aerosmith.

If this film reflects Gray's vision then he is truly a shallow and uninteresting person.

Lousy movie

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Not that cool
Added 10/22/2009

You know there's something not quite right with a movie when it boasts actors the calibre of John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, James Woods, and Vince Vaughan....yet the most memorable roles are those by ex-wrestler The Rock and singer Andre-3000. Unfortunately, despite its cast, 'Be Cool' ends up being much less than the some of its parts.

In this sort-of-sequel to 'Get Shorty', we follow Chili Palmer moving out of the movie business and into the music industry. What follows is a convoluted plot involving Russian mobsters, a widowed record company owner, try-hard gangstas, a promising young singer, gay bodyguards, and a Vanilla Ice-like white boy who acts black.

Many people bag the performances of the main cast, especailly Travolta and Thurman. It's true they do phone in their efforts for this movie, but the script doesn't really give them alot of material to work with. In fact, despite all the characters and confusion, the central story is quite simple and not really that interesting. It is mostly the side plots and minor characters, not the central players, that are more entertaining.

The bigger problem with this movie is that, for a comedy, it's not really that funny. It relies very heavily on "irony" and in-jokes that too often fall flat. For example, Aerosmith singer Steve Tyler (in one of the most cringeworthy cameos ever seen) proclaims "I'm not one of those singers who appear in movies!". Geddit??? He's a singer, and he's appearing in a movie, claiming he doesn't appear in movies. Yep, this is the sort of thing you're forced to suffer through in the name of "humour".

However, the interactions between Raji (Vaughan) and his gay Samoan bodyguard and wannabe singer (The Rock) are hilarious. The humour here is much more slapstick and off-the-cuff, particularly The Rock's "monologue" and his music video. Andre-3000 as a tea-drinking gangsta and Robert Pastoerlli as a bumbling hit-man are other highlights. If only they'd put in a bit more of this sort of stuff rather than the heavy-handed pop culture references, this would have been a better film.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Be cool is a 3.5/5 star DVD
Added 5/30/2009

This was the remake to the original movie called Get Shorty. While this was a solid movie it did not live up to the expectations of the first one in my opinion. They had a great cast of actors even some of the old ones back like Danny Divito but I felt the storyline was remade but not in a better way. It still brought the funny aspect to the film. And watching the rock play a gay character in the movie was absolutely hilarious. Also watching Vince Vaughn playing a wanna be gangster is funny as heck as well. Just something missing and unlike the first movie you could tell the content was less severe not only because it was PG-13 but not the full out feel we don't care what we say we are going to make a great movie. I would still recommend picking this up if you can for $10 or below because it is funny. I will give it a 3.5/5 stars and leave it at that.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Be Cool
Added 1/16/2010

Streetwise mobster-turned-movie producer Chili Palmer is back, but this time Chili has abandoned the fickle movie industry and veered into the music business, tangling with Russian mobsters and gangsta rappers and taking a talented, feisty young singer named Linda Moon under his wing. From the recording studio to an Aerosmith concert to the MTV Music Awards, he manipulates events to watch them play out the Chili way, using his signature blend of wiseguy skills and negotiation tactics. It's a dangerous business, and everyone's looking for their next big hit. Be Cool is a fairly harmless and forgettable comedy.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
more dud than cool
Added 11/15/2009

I usu. write about music or movies that I really like...but I didn't like Be Cool. I like comedy, action, fun, even stereotypes, but Be Cool is just too much weak stuff, seen it before, not original, not gut-bustin comedy. Even the stereotype-characters are a dud; if it's been done before then change something!..to make it fun or interesting. Steve Tyler?...nah...his daughter maybe.
They could have salvaged the flick by having more of sexy Christine Millian as a super hoochie or bitchy vixen in patent leather, at least get a thrill with her.

Compared with say, Players Club, & Undercover Brother: both of those are also full of stereotypes & stuff we've seen before, but those two do it right, excellent movies full of action, comedy, soft & hard stuff, vixens.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
F. Gary Gray is a one of the more mediocre directors around
Added 10/31/2009

This is the first negative review I have ever put up on amazon but when you consider the tremendous acting talent, source material and the excellent first installment of this series it is truly an achievement to come up with such a boring, unfunny movie as Be Cool.

When watching this film I get the feeling that any other director would have done so much better.

Gray seems to have no concept at all of pacing or flow. Scenes drag on way too long (i.e. the Linda Moon/Aerosmith song..did we REALLY have to see the entire song..how about just a snippet), unfunny recurring jokes (russian guy getting punched in the eye) are employed and great actors like Harvey Keitel are completely underutilized.]

The Vince Vaughn and Rock characters are unfunny and cringe inducing and Linda Moon's singing is so generic sounding that it is hard to believe that she would ever get a second look much less play on stage with Aerosmith.

If this film reflects Gray's vision then he is truly a shallow and uninteresting person.

Lousy movie

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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