Review of Get Shorty (1995) by Stevenf — 25 Jul 2013

A busy and bustling cast of top Hollywood stars fill up the screen in Get Shorty, a smart and hilarious gangster show that promotes some shrewd moments and larger than life characters, with John Travolta leading the pack as Chili Palmer, a loan shark is goes in and out of various mobsters as he is tasked with receiving payment from a nervous movie producer, Harry (Gene Hackman).

The two immediately form quite the unsteady companionship, and Chili sees first hand how the movie business works, and it isn't that much different from what he does. The film introduces these characters who are given plenty of screen time to develop very versatile and interesting characters. They each develop quite the personality and have often hilarious conversations, particularly Travolta and Hackman, who make quite the unorthodox duo as they attempt to rid themselves of the man on their back looking payment.

Where the film truly succeeds is its sense of knowing, it has fun doing what its doing, and the whole basis of the film within a film plays out very well, which is accompanied by a smart script that uses its surroundings to its advantage, leading us to feel sympathy for the rich and famous with LA as its backdrop.

As you can tell, this is very much a character centric film, with a large cast also including Danny DeVito, Rene Russo, Bette Midler and James Gandolfini to name a few, they each bring something fresh, funny and unique to their roles, while they all also mix it up with Chili.

A carefully crafted script has ensured that Barry Sonnenfeld can direct in a comedic fashion, but also to drive these characters who it sometimes seems do role swaps, we expect certain things from Chili when he is confronted unknowingly, but our expectations are completely turned on their head, we are shown exactly what things are and what words mean, not for reasons to pull the viewer in, but for a sense that in many films of the same genre, nothing is explained, and Get Shorty parodies and pokes fun at that for their trouble.

Certainly one of the finest films of its time, full of humour and interesting characters, but most importantly, the film makes these characters matter.