A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Be Cool

Date Viewed: 3/13/05

Details:

John Travolta

Uma Thurman

Vince Vaughn

Cedric the Entertainer

Robert Pastorelli

Christina Milian

Gregory Alan Williams

Harvey Keitel

Director: F. Gary Gray

Original novel: Elmore Leonard

Score: +

The Review: The continuing adventures of Chili Palmer, who, after his success as a movie producer, is thinking of a career change into the music biz.

Where Get Shorty was Elmore Leonard's distinctive view of the movie industry, turned quirky and dark by Tarantino, Be Cool is his paen to the music industry. Distinctive is perhaps too mild, for this combines the mindless brutality of the Russian mafia, the hair-trigger sensibilities of gangstas, the dark edges of talented wannabes mismanaged by dolts, and an white boy agent/manager whose entire affected attitude, vocabulary and attitude is deepest rap. But it also has an excellent riff on racial epithets by Cedric. As with many of Leonard's fictional lowlifes, you wonder how some of the characters in Be Cool manage to ever put one foot in front of the other, because with such limited neural capacities and behavioral repertoire they'd be challenged by the nearest Aplysia.

Self-referential and filled with visual puns and in-jokes (lots of movie billboards and posters). Also there are lots of "FoJ" -- friends of John Travolta, small (and not so small) spots by lots of large names: James Wood, The Rock, Joe Perry, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Sergio Mendes, Gene Simmons, Anna Nicole Smith, among many others.

With this odd pedigree and the emphasis on in-jokes to the L.A. community, one would think I'd have absolutely no interest in spending my time. But I found it enjoyable to watch Travolta be cool, Thurman be attractive, Pastorelli be stupid, and Keitel be dark. Not bad. The energy of the joint Christina Milian-Tyler Aerosmith performance is the clear highlight, and makes me want to go back and listen to some older stuff.

(13-Mar-05)

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