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Trying hard to be cool
Nils van der Linden
Posted Wed, 06 Apr 2005
Out of 5:
"I hate sequels," are the first words out of Chili Palmer's mouth. Funny and self-aware, the opening words of 'Be Cool' do what they’re meant to (get a laugh), but continue to hang over the film long after the initial laughter has faded.
That’s because the 'Get Shorty' follow-up has ticked off all the boxes on Hollywood’s making a sequel pamphlet. Simply remake the original film in a new setting. Check. Don’t worry about the quality of the script — all you need is a loose framework to hang jokes on. Check. Spend more money on big names to appear in the film than fixing its flaws. Check. Make sure all the characters are stereotyped. Check.
So, while the adventures of Chili Palmer in Hollywood made for a superior comedy drama that was both funny and intelligent, 'Be Cool' struggles to be either. Not that the film-makers didn’t try. A major problem is that they tried too hard, but in all the wrong places.
By neglecting a believable, cohesive screenplay with realistic people, they've created a series of isolated situations built around some admittedly funny, if clichéd and heavy-handed, premises.
Tired of making movies, Palmer moves into the recording industry to guide the career of a promising young singer. But, unsurprisingly, the music world is as ruthless as Hollywood.
Enter the parade of usual suspects: the Russian mobsters, the heartless record mogul and his posse of hiphop gangsters, the bodyguard with acting aspirations, the hitman, and the young wide-eyed star with oodles of talent and a bastard manager.
That manager, courtesy of Vince Vaughn, is easily the best character in the film, a white guy who acts, talks and dresses like P. Diddy. But he’s still little more than a slapstick stereotype who keeps riffing off the same trait in every scene — as does everybody else.
So, while The Rock's bodyguard character pokes some fun at the WWE star's limited acting range (all he can really do is arch an eyebrow), he's always on about cowboy suits, acting and gay pride. And Outkast’s Andre 3000’s clumsy gangster is always acting inappropriately, while Chili Palmer (John Travolta) himself does little more than schmooze and say "Be cool". And after a while you get the feeling you’re having the same jokes shoved down your throat over and over again.
Clearly intended as a satire, it ends up being quite silly instead, the self-aware humour rapidly running thin.
Travolta's opening line is funny. Even Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler saying that he’s not the kind of musician who appears in films gets a laugh. But by the time the film-makers haul Travolta on to the dance floor — for a twirl with Uma Thurman, for goodness sake — they're really just trying too hard.
The convoluted double-, triple- and quadruple- crossing plot may take way too long to set up and lack the panache of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', but there are still occasional flashes of brilliance, and a steady string of chuckles. But that's not really enough — especially considering the original's calibre.
