Review of Be Cool (2005) by Scott K — 16 Sep 2008

This film is the sequel to "Get Shorty". John Travolta is back as Chili Palmer and Danny Devito makes a cameo as Martin Weir. Otherwise, none of the main actors from the original film are back for this sequel.

The filmmakers did bring in a talented cast to support Travolta in this film. Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Robert Pastorelli, James Woods, Dwayne Johnson, and Harvey Keitel all have roles in the film.

This film relies heavily on the goodwill created by the first film. The premise isn't very creative and there is a lot of winking at the camera going on. A number of the jokes rely on knowledge of the previous film. Some of the scenes are too corny, even for this film. The scene between Travolta, Thurman and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is just about unwatchable. Their discussion of the origins of "Sweet Emotion" is the cheesiest movie scene I've seen in a long time.

Thankfully, the actors are all talented enough to make their characters interesting. Travolta brings the same charm to Chili. He obviously has a good chemistry with Uma Thurman. Cedric the Entertainer and Dwayne Johnson play their characters for laughs without going too far over the top. Vaughn is good but his character grows tiresome as the film moves on.

This is an acceptable sequel with a poor script that is saved by a lot of talented actors.