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Be Cool film review
BE COOL
Running time: 114 mins
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, The Rock, Harvey Keitel, Cedric The Entertainer, Christina Milian
The tongue-in-cheek tone of Be Cool is established in the opening scene when Chili Palmer (John Travolta) declares, "Ah sequels, sometimes you got to do what the studio wants." The line is a not so thinly veiled reference to the film's origins, coming as it does ten years after we first met Chili in Get Shorty. Little inside jokes turn up all the way through. While some might find such ploys smug, it's still refreshing to see Hollywood spoof itself. And at least the jokes are funny.
A decade on, the wait has been worth it. Be Cool is every bit as amusing as its predecessor, if not more so. Catching up with old friends is nice, especially ones as, well, cool as Chili. After seeing Travolta allow the years to show in the recent A Love Song For Bobby Long, they've rolled off again here as he looks his traditional suave self. Few other than Travolta, have the natural charm allied to a convincing tough edge to make Chili such an indelible character.
Apart from the old faces of hustling Shylock Chili and movie director Martin Weir (Danny DeVito), it's the new faces that help make Be Cool so enjoyable. Vince Vaughn is hilarious as the jive-talking poseur Raji, whose pimp threads are as loud as he is. Under the delusion he's black, he sports a neat line in street slang, "Stop hatin', start participatin'. Come on, twinkle twinkle, baby, twinkle twinkle." Wrestling fans might be crushed to see The Rock playing a flamboyant gay bodyguard, but everyone else will be pleasantly surprised by his comic turn as Elliot Wilhelm, a wannabe actor with a talented eyebrow. Another revelation is OutKast's André Benjamin as the trigger happy Dabu.
The colourful cast of characters are embroiled in a convoluted caper centered on the music business. A number of various factions that include Chili, his record executive partner Edie (Uma Thurman), well-educated record producer Sin LaSalle (Cedric The Entertainer), the Russian Mafia, and Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel), the muscle wielding head of a management company, are all competing for the contract of new singing sensation Linda Moon (Christina Milian).
Director F. Gary Gray proves that his ability to juggle an ensemble cast and keep the humour and action moving, as he did with the remake of The Italian Job, was no fluke. As well as reuniting Travolta and Thurman on the dancelfoor, Be Cool boasts plenty of broad gags, with Elliot's stint as a satin-clad country singer and LaSalle and his posse listening to Dylan being just a couple of examples. Peter Steinfield's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel is ripe with plum lines, many of which spew forth from Raji's poetic lips. When addressing a lithe but lippy secretary, he spits, "Nice arse won't get you through life. When you turn thirty, you better get a personality."
Be Cool celebrates and satirizes everything its title evokes. The only criticism would be that in an effort to be cool, they took so long with the sequel. Let's just hope next time we don't have to wait another ten years.
Kevin Murphy
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