'Be Cool' is not so hot

By HAP ERSTEIN
Palm Beach Post

If only they gave an award for Most Promising First Five Minutes.

Be Cool, the follow-up to the justifiably popular Get Shorty, begins with an invigorating burst of comic attitude. Chili Palmer (John Travolta), our returning loan-shark-turned-movie-producer, takes one look at a poster for the new flick Get Lost and says, "I hate sequels."

MGM Pictures

'Be Cool'

D+

The verdict: A stellar cast squandered in this flat, jumbled follow-up to Get Shorty.

Director: F. Gary Gray
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman
Run time: 106 minutes
Release date:March 4, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for violence, sensuality and language including sexual references.
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Then, Chili proceeds to impress pal Tommy Athens (James Woods) with his way around the movie ratings system, showing that one can utter a single "F"-word and still score a PG-13. So he delivers the allotted profanity, curbs any further cussing, and sure enough, Be Cool slides through with the promised rating.

Too bad that's where the cleverness ends. Screenwriter Peter Steinfeld (Analyze That) runs out of wit and makes a jumble of Elmore Leonard's so-so novel in which Chili trades in the movie biz for the even more criminal world of record producing.

Coherent plotting is not a high priority here, but Tommy soon gets offed by the Russian mob, leaving his independent music label, NTL (Nothing To Lose) Records, to his widow, the slinky, not-so-grieving Edie (Uma Thurman).

Chili gets interested in the music world when he discovers talented Linda Moon (large-lunged, gyrating pop star Christina Milian). But he must first rescue her from the clutches of pimp-like manager Raji (Vince Vaughn), a preening fop who is protected by his gay Samoan bodyguard and wannabe action star, Elliot (played by wannabe action star The Rock).

Cluttering matters further is a gang of Russian hitmen; Harvey Keitel as a music mogul looking to rub Raji out; Cedric the Entertainer as a 'hood hood owed a bundle by Tommy's company; and Danny DeVito, who shows up briefly, presumably because he produced Be Cool. At least Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has an excuse for looking uncomfortable as the designated rock-star cameo at which the movie pokes fun.

It has been a decade since Get Shorty, and Travolta's impersonation of cool has gotten a bit icy over time. At least he looks better here than as the paunchy, gray-haired former professor in the recent Love Song of Bobby Long.

Be Cool also contrives to get Travolta out on the dance floor with Thurman, an obvious reminder of their steamy stepping in Pulp Fiction. Keep your memories. They're much cooler than Be Cool.