BE COOL

First off, I LOVE "Get Shorty." I just absolutely adore every frame of it. It's a totally self-aware, self-spoofing, highly entertaining, very funny romp through Hollywood. So the idea of a sequel, still based of Elmore Leonard's work, that would be a self-aware, self-spoofing, highly entertaining, very funny romp through the music industry sounded fantastic.

And it achieves that, to a certain degree. But it's ALL in the supporting cast. Cedric and the WMDs are hilarious. Vince Vaughn with his gay bodyguard The Rock (best...casting...ever) are outstanding (and provide for the best line in the film). But the chief problem is the lead cast. I've gotten used to casts for comedy and action movies where the lead characters are far from the most entertaining, but this is ridiculous. "Get Shorty" was made while Travolta was still on his high from "Pulp Fiction." "Be Cool" comes off the heals of "The Punisher" and "Ladder 49," and as a result Travolta's performance doesn't have NEAR the energy he had in "Shorty." Then we've got Uma Thurman. Now I love Uma and all, and seeing her and Travolta onscreen again together was one of reasons I believed this film would rule. But she's basically taking the role Gene Hackman had in "Shorty," and the writer and director take her way too seriously.

But not as much Christina Milian, who provides the talent that Travolta and Thurman are trying to raise. See..."Get Shorty" was based around the idea of making this movie. The studio they were making it through made only bad monster movies. The only real actress they had was terrible. Its chief producer was a hack and kind of an idiot. In "Be Cool"...the singer can actually sing. You BELIEVE she could make it in this business, because...uh...she has.

As a whole, the film just takes itself WAY too seriously. It doesn't just have fun with most of the material, especially as it pertains to the leads.

And the big Travolta/Thurman dance number, which I can only assume was supposed to be reminiscent of "Pulp Fiction" was anything but. If anything, now I'll have to watch "Pulp Fiction" and it will be tainted because of the memory of that. The "Pulp" dance number had this fun, lightly sexy edge. This was just a lotta grinding.

If you think I'm doing WAY too much comparison in this review and not actually focusing on the film as a separate entity, it's because the film sets itself up for that. It references "Get Shorty" many times (through a made-up film called "Get Leo," which was actually kind of a fun little invention), and c'mon...who would've casted Uma Thurman if she wasn't with Travolta in "Pulp"?

So yeah...it's not a BAD FILM, per se. You could certainly do worse. But when the supporting cast is not only BETTER than the leads, but the leads are also near-unwatchable, it doesn't have a lot to keep you going.