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We have taken some photos of "Be Cool". They represent actual movie quality.

• not much of a story posted on 26 Aug 2009

  This movie really didn't have a plot. It was just a satire of gangsters, namely following Chili, as he gets into the music business. It's supposed to be funny, but there weren't many laughs. It wasn't even very entertaining.They must have done some air brushing on Uma Thurman in this because her face looked a lot younger than usual. I'm sure they did the same for Travolta. There are quite a few cameos; they are pointless. The Rock plays this silly gay bodyguard whose more of a chump.FINAL VERDICT: There was not a reason to make this sequel. Nothing much happened and you just don't care.

• Bad, Bad, Bad posted on 24 Aug 2009

  If you see this movie you will undoubtedly regret the 2+ hours you will never get back. I loved Get Shorty which was funny, novel and even thought-provoking (do things make you cool or does a cool person make the things?). I figured this movie had to be at least decent with such veterans as Vaughn and Travolta but apparently not. Even the best talent and premise can be perverted into schlock if you try hard enough. Apparently the premise was to re-use the humorous bits from the first movie under the impression they were "running jokes" rather than retreads. There are so many jokes which tie into the original movie they forgot to write some new ones. The other decision was to make a comedy based on lots and lots of over the top characters rather than have a cohesive plot with strong support characters as was done in the original. When has a sequel ever benefited by having inane characters linked by a thin plot? This type of movie requires a Mel Brooks but even Mel had a plot to work with. One of the biggest disappointments was the reuniting of Uma and John on screen. The scene fell completely flat and Uma and John looked like they were going through the motions as if to say "even our reuniting on screen isn't going to save this thing".

• Horrible posted on 04 Aug 2009

  It is Get Shorty minus all the good stuff. Jokes repeated and aren't nearly as funny. Disgrace to those who have seen Get Shorty. If you haven't seen Get Shorty, see it, it's at least ten times better than this movie. If you choose to see this movie and haven't seen Get Shorty, you may think it was OK, maybe even good. But it really is one of the worst movies of the year. For the first time in my life, I walked out of the theater. The only thing close to being good is the Rock in his role as a bodyguard, but James Gandolfini was better in Get Shorty. Overall, save a couple bucks and rent Get Shorty, Be Cool is pale in comparison. To me, there never was a sequel to the hip, funny Get Shorty.

• Not Very Cool posted on 02 Aug 2009

  As much as I liked "Get Shorty", I couldn't see a plausible or any reason to make a sequel to that fine film. They tried it again with a few of the same cast and it simply doesn't work as well. In this film, Chili Palmer (John Travolta) who has become disenchanted with the movie biz, now wants to get into the music biz after seeing a beautiful up and coming singer named Linda Moon (Christina Milian). Moon is under contract by another producer and the fight for the contract is on.There are many different characters in this film that are all over the map. Vince Vaughn plays a flunky with his own agenda that for comic relief, speaks black. His act gets old very fast. The Rock plays Vaughn's gay bodyguard. Is it funny to have The Rock play a gay tough guy? It is for about 5 minutes. His role is funny in other areas, but its all basically a stunt. I also didn't buy the little dance sequence with Travolta and Uma Thurman. There was no need to have that in the film except to have a marketing ploy. I love Thurman, but there is very little for her to do in this film.The film tries too hard to be funny and it seems that there are a lot of little scenes that are strung together but don't flow with the movie. The dance sequence to name one and there is an extended scene at the MTV Music Awards that seemed out of place."Be Cool" isn't all bad. I liked the Christina Milian showcase. She does an impressive duet with Aerosmith and the movie does have a few funny moments. The actors do seem like they are having fun, but it's not enough for me to recommend this film. It should have been a lot better. (**)

• Not That Cool posted on 23 Jul 2009

  I thought on the whole Be Cool was an awful movie with a few big laughs. I was crying when The Rock busted out his monologue. Vince vaughn was well...Vince Vaugn. He's just funny and as a your best friend he's funn on talk show and he's real funny as a pimp, funny sandwiches, funny kabobs. funny gumbo...uh ...wrong movie. The Rock was the clear winner in this movie. John Travolta and Uma...oh Uma what were you thinking? They should be ashamed of themselves they were just as bad as the movie. They were terrible. John travolta should stick to flying. He just doesn't make good movies anymore. He has been great at times but now his movies are far from great.

• Acting Cool posted on 15 Jul 2009

  We are born into the doom of being actors. If we are lucky we discover who we are but until then we go through a process of acting a role. Some movies play with this idea, and "Get Shorty" was one of the most clever of these.It had two elements: that notion of acting cool and the explicit self-reference of putting it in movies, complete with the command to "look at me."Behind it was one of the coolest thinkers in cinema, Danny Devito who is a kind of patron saint of self-reference. He who made a film based on "Pale Fire" and whose "Death to Smoochy" is a pinnacle of sorts of introspective writing.Now comes this, which starts out okay, along the same lines of heavy self-reference until we learn that Devito is to star in a biopic of Johnny Cash. Then the grind of the inferior mind behind it begins. Seems they had some idea that Uma Thurman fit into an intelligent enterprise somewhere.Nope, none of the few things she can do fit into self-reference or folding in any way.Seems they decided that a mere reference to performance wasn't enough, we had to have the whole pretty-girl-overcomes-adversity thing complete with several performances.Nope, again.And they figured that all the cool identity stuff would be carried by a white guy acting black and a black guy acting white.Nope, nope , nope.Go watch any Devito-inspired project rather than this.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

• the worst film ever posted on 11 Jul 2009

  well well well...i saw the trailer and thought: "it's not that bad. At least i'll have some laughs with my friends". I was completely wrong. First of all, the film has a terribly poor plot(if that can be called so): beautiful girl wanting to become famous artist, though in her journey she is not alone. (What a coincidence.) Very typical, albeit worst than any other "typical" plot from any other "typical" film. Second: there is no creativeness, no "behind-message", nothing to learn from the film, except that you should choose more carefully how to spend your money. Third: John Travolta, Uma Tthurman, Vince Vaughn...seemed quite a promising cast, but i guess we all commit errors. This turned up to be no more than a trick.Finally, the script. Well, the script was a load of rubbish, lots of words put together to imitate a pathetic version of script [â perfectly done job]. And the characters...NO COMMENTS.

• Huge Disappointment posted on 09 Jul 2009

  The first 10 minutes of the movie makes fun of sequels and pg-13 movies. These are the 2 reasons the movie is so bad. They constantly reference a movie called "Get Leo" which is the movie-in-a-movie version of get shorty. Every time they do this, you will be really angry. Travolta isn't very cool, neither is Keitel. However, The Rock and Vince Vaughn are hilarious. They aren't the kind of funny you would expect to see in an Elmore Leonard movie though. If you haven't seen get shorty, you will probably like be cool. If you liked get shorty, you will leave the theater wanting to kill the director and screenwriter. Wait for the DVD.

• pointless sequel but fun still the same posted on 05 Jul 2009

  some say this is a pointless sequel that had no reason it needed to be made, & to them i say...''well, duh!''.of course it has no point , & it didn't NEED to be made, especially since ten years have passed since they made the first one, & weve all gotten along just fine without this sequel.but pointless or not this movie is just plain fun,pure plain & simple fun, nothing else.& really, i don't ALWAYS need more than that.sonnenfeld has a different type of humor that some people like & others don't see its point...but i LIKE it, i really do.i laugh my ass off to BIG TROUBLE, GET SHORTY, & even the live action THE TICK, while my wife just looks at me with her eyes glazed over from boredom, so if you like those, check this out & you'll be cool, but if they glaze your eyes, then nothing here is gonna change your mind.

• A bona fide contender for the worst film of 2005 posted on 03 Jul 2009

  The first film was good, record producer Tommy Athens (James Woods) tells Chili Palmer (John Travolta) in the opening minutes of "Be Cool." Sequels stink, they're merely made for corporate profit, Chili adds.Tommy and Chili, of course, refer to "Get Leo" the film Chili helped produce in "Get Shorty" (1995). Now, when we see Chili, he's recovering from the lambasting the sequel, "Get Lost" received, a sequel he didn't want to make. It's a cute joke to start "Be Cool." But it doesn't excuse director F. Gary Gray and writer Peter Steinfeld for making a horribly turgid and miserably unfunny sequel.Gray and Steinfeld have successfully stripped all the humor and attitude out of Elmore Leonard's novel, which provided many laughs. Chili's involvement in the music business was his way to also get back into the movie business as he went about making a movie of what he was doing. All that has been omitted from the movie, "Be Cool." The problem, undoubtedly, is Steinfeld's script. Leonard's characters have attitude, charm, charisma, verve. Screenwriter Scott Frank brilliantly captured the essence of those people in "Get Shorty." Frank also found similar success adapting Leonard's "Out of Sight" for director Steven Soderbergh in 1998. Frank's impressive filmography includes "Dead Again" (1991) and this year's "The Interpreter." On the other hand, Steinfeld's contributions to cinema - "Drowning Mona" (2000) and the horribly unfunny sequel, "Analyze That" (2002). And in "Be Cool," he doesn't get a single character right. The dialogue falls flat, too.No one seems to be having any fun in "Be Cool." They all seem to be taking themselves far too seriously and trying too hard to be funny. There's an embarrassingly lame dance sequence between Chili and Edie Athens (Uma Thurman), as if the filmmakers are trying to rekindle the magic the two actors generated in "Pulp Fiction" (1994). But this scene goes nowhere, as does a pointless cameo by Danny De Vito. His appearance only reminds us what a gem "Get Shorty" was and how we longed for Gene Hackman, Rene Russo and James Gandolfini in "Be Cool." Thurman looks sensational in a bikini, but there's nothing more to her character. Travolta, such a joy in "Get Shorty," seems thoroughly bored and, even the usually reliable Harvey Keitel is dull.We're also saddled with Cedric the Entertainer, Andre Benjamin, The Rock and Vince Vaughn, who has rater speedily become one of the most annoying actors. The other day I realized I've enjoyed him in just two films - "Swingers" (1996) and "Clay Pigeons" (1998). In "Be Cool," a miscast Vaughn plays a Jewish manager who acts black. This could be funny if Vaughn didn't grate on us. This chap doesn't know how to act anymore - every character he plays turns into an irritating caricature with no depth. Vaughn's fast becoming a reason not to see a movie.The charm of "Get Shorty" was that Chili realized the skills he gained being a mobster fit ideally into him becoming a movie producer. But the music business doesn't provide him with such comedy. In Leonard's novel, "Be Cool," Linda Moon, the young singer Chili befriends, was sassy, smug, vivacious and fun. She had character, charm. In the film, Linda's (Christina Milian) as pedestrian and forgettable as every "American Idol" performer. There's nothing unique about her, absolutely nothing charming. Why she would captivate Chili is a mystery. And in the film's biggest mistake, Steinfeld treats Linda's rise to stardom seriously. What was he thinking?Everything that's wrong about "Be Cool" is crystallized when Chili waxes poetic about the reasoning behind one of Aerosmith's classic songs. The moment isn't played for laughs; it's treated as serious and emotionally heavy. Right there you realize Steinfeld and Gary had no idea how to approach Leonard's novel to give it the touch it required. I very well might see a worse film than "Be Cool" this year. But I doubt I'll be as disappointed.

• Take it with a grain of salt.. posted on 29 Jun 2009

  I must agree, Be Cool wasn't that great of a movie. It was mediocre at best. The storyline was confusing and the movie as a whole didn't go very far. BUT: The main reason everyone should give this movie a chance is because of the characters. Every single character is well written and acted with their own personality. Especially Rajii(anyone else notice his constant winking gimmick? I thought that was hilarious) and The Rock playing a gay guy( that "monologue" was fricking great!). All the characters were great including Andre 3000 and Cedric the Entertainer. You don't have to like the movie, but give the people a chance.

• Where the original was slick, fun and enjoyable this is clunky, untidy, excessive and unnecessary posted on 27 Jun 2009

  Having had his fill of the movie industry, Chilli Palmer decides the time is right for a move into the music industry. With the help of record label owner Edie Athens he spots a new talent in singer Linda Moon and they start to make connections with her. Only problem is that Linda is already under a form of contract with the Russian mob in the shape of Nick Carr. As Chilli tries to sort this out, he discovers that rap troupe WMD are owned thousands by Edie's label and want it back – it's not long before he's back in familiar territory though with threats on his life, guns, betrayal and entertainment.Having recently watched and enjoyed Get Shorty for the second time I decided to go and try the sequel and was rather depressed to see that it just retread the same material, added nothing of value and succeeded in boring. The music industry here has all the same characters as in the original film, so too often it just feels like a retread with a slightly different plot. Sadly, the plot is not any good and it just feels messy and never gripped me in the way that the slick original had. It is a shame because it is not like the film didn't have the resources to work with, but the starry cameos just fill the running time and none of them really add anything. Some elements are totally misjudged; well, in fairness, lots of bits are misjudged but some are worse than others – a poor dance scene between Travolta and Thurman is just embarrassing and silly.The lack of characters is a real killer too. In the first film they weren't that well written but at least they were slick, funny and interesting. Here Travolta just whispers his way through the film in a basic performance that has none of the presence he had in the first. It may be partly due to the fact that now his star is waning again while the original came out when he was the cool, come-back king of Hollywood; although it may just be that he has nothing to add to the character and doesn't bother. Thurman is the darling of internet users everywhere and there were calls for her to be Best Actress last year for Kill Bill; thankfully she got just what she deserved (nothing) and yet again this film sees her turn in another dull lifeless performance – people call her statuesque, I assume it refers to her height but it can also refer to her stony performance. Amazingly her and Travolta have little chemistry. Vaughn takes a risk and fails with his character – it could have been funny but with so many characters speaking in ebonics it is difficult to know if he was actually trying to be funny or if he was fitting in. Cedric the Entertainer was a disappointment, normally he at least is fun but here he is flat and rarely does anything interesting. Milian is nothing special, I suppose if you are a fan then you'll enjoy her but I just found her quite bland. Keitel is so-so but is slumming it and making zero effort; cameos are mixed – Woods is OK but Tyler is terrible, like he was reading off cue-cards. Andre 3000 is at least amusing but the only real praise from me goes to The Rock. Already I have been impressed by his easy charisma in average films but his character here was so lacking ego that he was fun – fun to the point where I could forgive the homosexual stereotype he played.Overall this is an unnecessary film and, with that behind it, it is no surprise that it fails to do anything that well. The plot is clunky and littered with pointless star cameos and ill-judged moments; the characters are poor and nothing moves that well. The original is hardly high art but it is slick, enjoyable and fun – qualities that cover the problems well. But with this film they managed to get everything wrong that went right the first time around. Be Cool? I was left totally cold.

• This cast is more fun to watch than that of 'Ocean's 12' posted on 27 Jun 2009

  I shouldn't even try to begin trying to describe the plot. All you need to know is that Chili Palmer (Travolta)is leaving the movie business to go into the music business. While trying to do this he comes across a new talent act named Linda Moon. He reunites with the wife (now widow - Thurman) of his old protégé (Woods- who gets killed in the first scene. No spoiler trust me.). The main plot revolves around the contract of Linda Moon who at the time is property to Harvey Keitel and Vince Vaughn who are protected by their gay and often hilarious bodyguard, Elliott played perfectly by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Cedric the Entertainer is the head producer for a rap label whose lead act is called the 'WMD's' (Weapons of Mass Destruction). The head rapper is played with much humor by Andre Benjamin (best known as Andre 3000 from OUTKAST). The film is filled with many tongue-in-cheek jokes, which are done better than 'Ocean's Twelve' (which is merely just an OK Movie). The humor involves the inside joke of 'The Rock's famous eyebrow trick, Andre 3000 wants so desperately to 'bust a cap in that ass' and when he does it was by accident. Vince Vaughn thinks he's black, which can be funny but maybe they spent too much time on it. He's still funny, but look for his dancing 'man on fire' trick at the end of the movie (which makes up for his mildly annoying moments). There are several references to Tom Hanks (via movie billboard), how the ratings system is shot to hell (just listen to Travolta's opening statement), how sequels are crap these days. This is not a surpassing sequel over its original (such as T2, Aliens, and Lord of the Rings 3 may be). However, in a year where every single movie besides 'Hitch' as sucked so far, this is a breath of fresh air. I highly recommend checking this out. Don't look for Oscar type stuff. But you'll have a blast watching it. Oh, yeah - there's also something that has to do with the Russian Mafia. (Don't ask - they just waste space.) The cast includes: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Christina Millian, The Rock, Vince Vaughn, Andre 3000, Steven Tyler and features some side players such as a brief appearance of Kobe Bryant (on the announcer's table in which Travolta, Thurman and Tyler are sitting behind at a Lakers Game), Seth Green as a music video director, James Woods, Cedric the Entertainer, and is directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian Job, Set It Off). Everyone did this move just to have fun (but it is not disappointing like most people thought Ocean's 12 was. That's the best comparison. I thought Ocean's twelve was fun but not as good as the first. Be cool is not 'Get Shorty' by any means, but as a film it is more fun, just not as well-executed plot wise. Check it out you'll have a blast.

• Awful posted on 21 Jun 2009

  And the only reason I'm giving this flick a 5 instead of a 0 is because of the chance to see Travolta and Thurman dance!!!! Otherwise it was a disaster of a movie. Travolta does a reprise of his Chili Palmer role in "Get Shorty" . There should be a rule in Hollywood "Never Work w/Children" and "Never do a reprise". The dialogue is absolutely stilting. I can only comment on the lst half of the movie because after the dance scene I left.Travolta could have phoned in his performance. The guys will love seeing Thurman semi-nude. Vince Vaughn has the best role and is mildly funny. The Rock as a gay tough-guy is ridiculous.

• be cool was very cool i loved it posted on 17 Jun 2009

  hello again for any of the people who have read my other comments and hello to those who haven't. okay so this movie be cool i never really wanted to see it it looked okay because i didn't no what it was about. its a movie about a girl who wants to be a singer and how they all try to get her to help her or just to bring her down. i thought it was a very inspiration movie. i think it teaches you to go after your dreams no matter what ids there brining you down. and no matter what you have i know that what I'm about to say might sound greedy or rude but okay no matter what you think you already have always go for more and try to get way, way on top.love yours truly oh and if anyone wants to get in touch with me my email is dakota_loves_it@hotmail.com

• Why don't all of you complainners..... posted on 15 Jun 2009

  Get over your selves. Sure the Steven Tyler cameo was lame. There were also some other moments that I would have cut before the release but please people, STOP! Tell me The Rock wasn't funny. Tell me Vince Vaughn wasn't funny. Tell me Cedric the Entertainer wasn't funy. Andre 3000 was great with what he had. That movie wasn't Funny?! It was a very funny entertaining movie which by today's standards was great. Get Shorty I agree was better, But, this wasn't Get Shorty! Get over yourselves and watch the movie for what it was. A comedy designed to make you laugh. I din't agree with some of the direction and the cameo of tyler and that lame concert. That doesn't mean the movie sucked. If you want to laugh and see a bit of action with young and veteran stars this is a good movie to see. especially with all of the other crap out there.

• one of my favourites posted on 15 Jun 2009

  1st The rock as a fag:brilliant,it's about time he played a different role,2nd John Travolta is cooooooooollll...3rd Uma is dead sexy and the of the cast put the rest together perfectly is this clever comedy that I would watch again again.Some of the dialog is very smuart...cool story line good tunes and if you see it on DVD,watch the rocks music video you ain't women enough to take my man.The only thing I hope for now is a third movie.From what I see i'm probably the only one thats written something decent about this movie,but for all of you that haven't seen it,I recommend it amediantly,it's deffenently the humor for everyone

• Be Cool is No Get Shorty posted on 07 Jun 2009

  If you're thinking of reading the book "Be Cool" before seeing the movie, don't! The movie isn't very good, but if you've read the book, it's much worse.Instead of a sequel to Get Shorty, Be Cool seems to be a vehicle for some of the comedians in the movie. They changed characters to make them goofy, instead of quirky in the book. They deleted a very pivotal and major character. They re-wrote situations that were very well crafted so that they were simply more low-grade Hollywood hokum.The entire ending of the novel - what the entire thing worked up to - is sweepingly changed in the movie for a typical happy ending instead of an off-beat ending.And John Travolta's portrayal of Chili wasn't as cool.The only good thing I can say about seeing Be Cool today is that we had a free rental coming, so at least I didn't have to pay for it.

• Sequels don't work!!!!!! posted on 01 Jun 2009

  I have liked John Travolta since his days on television in Welcome Back Kotter and I have like most all of his movies but sequels just don't seem to work these days. I had read some of the reviews of this movie but since I like John I decided to go see the movie. I guess this movie was again made for the younger generation who go to see all the movies these days, and the music was pretty good, and the cast did an adequate job, but it did not have the impact of Get Shorty. Uma Thurman who has never really shown me anything in the rolls she takes just was not right for the part. My suggestion is that you wait for the DVD to come out and rent it. There were only about 15 people in the movie theater when I went to see it. I would say skip this one and rent the DVD. was not believable and John should pick his projects with more care.

• Be ever-cool ! posted on 28 May 2009

  I don't know the original but i can sense that it's been done the same..i have also good thoughts about the actors in the movie but i think it's a miscast.Dwayne Johnson it's inappropriate for this kind of movies.kinda like Vin Diesel in The Pacifier.but all in all the comedy has good fun..not like teen coms.different.for smart people.it is something like inspired from lock stock& two smoking barrels but with a flavor of rap & rock of Hollywood. Good acting by Vaughn and Travolta...and a lot of twists&turns.It is said that these are the comedies for the big actors to shine but in this one..the actors were poorly chosen. Could have BEen COOL !