Most entertainment businesses have and probably always will be affected or influenced in one way or another by criminal activities. In the past, of course, that mainly referred to the mob. Nowadays, a different sort of gangster -- I'm sorry, gangsta -- faction is in thick with one particular commercial endeavor. And that's the music industry with its gangsta rap hoodlums and such who seem to enjoy shooting each other as much as shooting music videos for their products.
It's not surprising then that old school mobster Chili Palmer thinks he'd be a natural fit in the biz. A wiseguy turned movie producer, Chili has his "in" with label owner Tommy Athens who wants to make a movie of his life in the music industry that includes dealings with such gangsta rappers and even the Russian mob.
When one thug from the latter group shoots that friend dead, Chili -- who's dissatisfied with the movie industry's artifice -- makes up his mind to become a record producer. And so begins "Be Cool," the long-awaited sequel to "Get Shorty," the fabulous organized crime meets Hollywood caper that debuted back in 1995.
Adapting Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name to the big screen, the newly brought in screenwriting and directing team of Peter Steinfeld ("Analyze That," "Drowning Mona") and F. Gary Gray ("The Italian Job," "The Negotiator") have jettisoned most of the characters save for John Travolta's lead and Danny DeVito playing a famous actor in a few brief cameos. In their place are a fresh set embodied by an all-star cast.
The result isn't as fun, clever or tight as the original and despite a few moments and lines of dialogue to the contrary, it doesn't feel enough like an Elmore Leonard piece of work. That said, and despite my fears that it might be this year's "The Whole Ten Yards" -- especially after seeing the mediocre previews -- it actually turns out to be an occasionally entertaining cinematic experience.
Just don't expect the quality or novelty of the original in this offering that isn't much from a collective standpoint, but has some comedic gems in some of its various individual moments and characters.
From the opening -- where Travolta's character states that you can't make a movie where an apparent main character gets whacked in the first scene (and then does) and comments on how many times the "f" word can be used in a PG-13 film (and then drops the lone but obligatory "f" bomb) to Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler (playing himself) saying he's not the kind of singer who needs to appear in movies -- it's easy to see that the self-referential film isn't going to take itself seriously.
The music industry -- and particularly that gangsta rap subcategory -- gets the most such jabs, but I would have preferred to see a higher quantity of such material since it offers some of the film's bigger laughs.
As do some of the performances. While Travolta ("The Punisher," "Domestic Disturbance") reprises his slick, cool and confident mobster character (but seems to have less material with which to work this time around) and he and Uma Thurman (the "Kill Bill" films, "Gattaca") reunite on the dance floor for the first time since "Pulp Fiction" (in a much ballyhooed scene that isn't as good as the first time around -- mainly due to a less than invigorating background song), it's the smaller roles that are the most fun and often the funniest.
In particular, the hulking Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ("Walking Tall," "The Rundown") is a hoot as a gay Samoan bodyguard who really wants to be an actor. His abilities, of course, are limited to overeagerness and the fact that he can arch one eyebrow in a self-confident, Mr. Spock sort of way (obviously poking fun at the actor's signature facial expression back in his pro wrestling days). His monologue audition from the cheerleader flick "Bring It On" -- where he voices two female characters -- is hilarious.
Andre 3000 (a.k.a. Andre Benjamin of the group OutKast) is also funny as the hot-headed but offbeat thug/cousin-in-law to Cedric the Entertainer's ("Man of the House," "Johnson Family Vacation") record mogul who must hide his gangsta ways from his young suburban daughter.
Vince Vaughn ("Dodgeball," "Starsky and Hutch") is also amusing as a manager whose black "player" person belies his race and otherwise chicken persona. Christina Milian ("Man of the House," "Love Don't Cost a Thing") plays the young talent everyone wants, and while she gets to belt out an old Aerosmith tune with Tyler, her character is otherwise rather flat.
While the multitude of characters and storylines don't always gel as well or as creatively as they probably should have, and various scenes go on too long and stop the film's momentum in its tracks, the picture has enough individually entertaining moments to make one overlook some of that. Although it might be faint praise to say it's better than I thought and/or feared it would be -- and it certainly doesn't stand up to the original -- it made me laugh on many occasions, which is something to say in today's world of otherwise lame comedies.
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