SNMR 2.10: "Be Cool"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Be Cool" (2005, PG-13, 120 minutes), starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Andre Benjamin, Steven Tyler, Robert Pastorelli, Christina Milian, Harvey Keitel, The Rock and Danny DeVito. The film was directed by F. Gary Gray. This is the sequel to "Get Shorty".

I bought this DVD at the same time as Get Shorty, only because it is the sequel. I'm watching this film for the first time tonight. Hopefully this movie will be better than the first one. We shall see.

From the DVD's dust case:

Starring an unbelievably hip all-star cast including John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Andre 3000, Steven Tyler and The Rock, and bursting with the hottest music in the biz, Be Cool is the wildly hilarious tale about a gangster-turned-music mogul... and what it takes to be number one with a bullet.

When Chili Palmer (Travolta) decides to try his hand in the music industry, he romances the sultry widow (Thurman) of a recently whacked music exec, poaches a hot young singer (Christina Milian) from a rival manager and discovers that the record industry is packin' a whole lot more than a tune!

From Martin & Porter's DVD & Video Guide 2006, p. 80:

Chili Palmer (John Travolta), the hoodlum turned movie producer of 1995's Get Shorty, gets into the music business to help a friend (Uma Thurman) save her record label. The pacing sags from time to time , but this sequel benefits from the Travolta-Thurman chemistry and an amusing supporting cast- especially The Rock as a gay bodyguard who wants to be a movie star, and Vince Vaughn as a hustler who wants to be black.

I liked this film better than the original for some reason, though I can't actually say why. The premise is the same as the first exchanging the movie business for the music industry. As with Get Shorty, I think this film has too many characters and tries real hard to get everyone involved but has a hard time doing so. Cedric the Entertainer plays a lousy tough guy and Vince Vaughn's character is simply annoying. I'll give this film three out of five stars.