Review of Be Cool (2005) by Heather C — 21 Apr 2008

Tonight I went to see "Be Cool" with my friend Roshan and his fiancee Holly. (Yup, Aaron...she actually showed up!) All I knew about the movie was that it was the sequel to "Get Shorty". I vaguely recall reading Get Shorty (not terribly sure I got through the entire book) and I know I never saw the movie. My expectations were low going in.

Thank god for low expectations...they're fairly easy to exceed. And this movie exceeded them quickly. John Travolta plays the lead role of Chili Palmer calm, cool and collected. Picture Vincent Vega in "Pulp Fiction", without the kick-ass guns and bad language.

The Rock plays a gay wanna-be actor bodyguard of Vince Vaughn's character Raji, a white sissy wanna-be gangsta record executive. Both actors did a great job in their comedic roles and they were my favorite scenes to watch. I found myself laughing A LOT during Vince Vaughn's delivery of his lines. The man must've done his character study from Jerry Springer episodes like "My White Cousin from Kentucky Thinks He's a Gangsta!". It was spot on.

23 year old Christina Milian dazzled the audience with her vocals and natural beauty. There's no wondering why she made it in the music business. She is pure talent. I just may have to go buy an album or two of hers. The only gripe I'd have is during her scene performing a duet with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler (playing himself), Steven's vocals were obviously turned up louder than hers and he drowned her out a good portion of the time.

The remainder of the all-star cast did a good job entertaining the audience in their roles and there were several interesting cameos. The PG-13 movie took obvious, but humorous, stabs at the movie industry, most notably at the beginning of the movie when Chili says (I'm paraphrasing) to James Woods' character, "Did you know that in order to keep a movie from an 'R' rating, you can only say the 'f' word once? You know what I say to that? Fuck that." So I paid attention, and it was the only time it was said. *giggle*.

So, if you're looking for a light-hearted movie to make you laugh, this is a good one and I definitely recommend it.

(Reviewed 3/6/05).