Be Cool

2005 Comedy

Underworld hipster Chili Palmer is back in the entertainment business in this sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty, which like the first film is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard. Gangster-turned-movie producer Chili (once again played by John Travolta) has grown tired of the screen trade, especially after his latest project turned out to be a box-office flop. Chili is looking for new horizons and thinks he may have found his niche when his close friend Tommy Athens (James Woods), a fellow mobster who runs an independent record label, is murdered by Russian gangsters. Chili takes over Athens' record company, Nothing to Lose Records, and begins courting Tommy's girlfriend, Edie (Uma Thurman). Edie is an experienced hand in record production, and together she and Chili spot what would seem to be the ideal act for their label -- Linda Moon (Christina Milian), a beautiful young woman with a powerhouse voice. Linda is stuck, however, in a going-nowhere R&B trio managed by the monumentally sleazy Raji (Vince Vaughn). Chili isn't much concerned about Linda's contract with Raji, but Raji certainly is, and the manager soon takes out a contract on Chili with the same Russian hoods who killed Tommy. Soon Chili is facing all the action he can handle between the Russian gunmen, a music mogul named Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) who wants Chili to stay out of the business, and Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer), a successful hip-hop producer who wants Chili to pay him the 300,000 dollars he is owed by Tommy. Be Cool also features appearances by The Rock as a gay Samoan bodyguard, Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000 from the hip-hop duo Outkast) as a rapper who isn't very good with a gun, and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler as himself. more..

Director: F. Gary Gray

Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Andre 3000

Reviews

  • It's instantly forgettable, but smooth fun most of the way.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    29 November 2012

  • Despite a cast and production that seem to promise one of the year's first movies of any note, Cool never translates its promo-photo flashiness into authenticity on screen.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    29 November 2012

  • The hell of it is, Be Cool is tepid entertainment that could be cool if it spent less time entertaining us as if we were demanding a definition of rhythm.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    29 November 2012

  • Like the characters, the scenes pile up but go nowhere; the story seems fragmented, the actors unmotivated, unmoored. Mr. Gray has a feel for pulp, but is seriously off his game here.

    Manohla Dargis - The New York Times

    29 November 2012

  • It's kind of -- hmmmm, less than good, a little better than not bad, almost all right, mediocre without being grating, sort of in the C-minus-to-C-minus-minus range.

    Stephen Hunter - The Washington Post

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Worst Film

    Austin Film Critics Association (2006)

  • Outstanding Directing for a Theatrical Film

    BET Comedy Awards (2005)

     
  • Outstanding Achievement in Directing

    Black Movie Awards (2005)

     
  • Choice Movie Dance Scene

    Teen Choice Awards (2005)

     
  • Best Fire Stunt

    World Stunt Awards (2005)