Be Cool is a 2005 American crime-comedy film adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1999 novel of the same name and the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novel Get Shorty (itself adapted into a 1995 film of the same name) about mobster Chili Palmer's entrance into the music industry.
The film adaptation of Be Cool began production in 2003. It was directed by F. Gary Gray, produced by Danny DeVito (who produced and co-starred in the first film), and starred John Travolta, reprising his role from the first film. The film opened in March 2005 and was released to video and DVD distribution on June 7, 2005. This was Robert Pastorelli's final film, as he died one year before its theatrical release.
Synopsis
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Chili Palmer helps the widow of an executed friend to resurrect a record company using the talents of young and talented female vocalist and songwriter. The plot is complicated by several facts:
- In a loan-shark subplot from Get Shorty of "who owns who", Chili makes deals and owns all the players as a "producer".
- The Russian Mafia (headed by Alex Kubik as Roman Bulkin) are trying to kill Chili because he witnessed the execution of Athens.
- Athens' record company owes money to a gangster/producer, Sin LaSalle.
Plot
Chili Palmer, restless after years of filmmaking, enters the music industry after witnessing a Russian mob execute his friend Tommy Athens, owner of a record company. Chili offers to help his friend's widow, Edie Athens, manage the failing business, which owes $300,000 to hip-hop producer Sin LaSalle.
Chili is impressed by singer Linda Moon and helps free her from contractual obligations to Nick Carr and Raji, who has a gay Samoan bodyguard named Elliott, an aspiring actor and the butt of Carr and Raji's homophobic jokes. Carr and Raji hire a hitman, Joe "Loop" Lupino to kill Chili before he can save Edie's company by arranging a live performance for Linda along with Steven Tyler and Aerosmith.
Lasalle demands payment of the $300,000, but agrees to give Chili a few days to get the money plus the vig. When the Russians attempt to kill Chili, Joe Loop mistakenly kills Ivan Argianiyev, the Russian Mob's hitman. Carr is furious about the mistake. Raji then kills Loop with a metal baseball bat after Loop "disrespects" him.
Carr then tries to trick Chili by handing him a pawn ticket, claiming that Linda's contract is being held at a pawn shop owned by the Russians. Edie gives the ticket to the police, who pay the Russians a visit. Raji and Elliott set up LaSalle by making him believe that Carr tricked Chili in giving him the $300,000 to get Linda's contract. LaSalle and the DubMD confront Carr in his office, as do Bulkin and his men. Insulted by Bulkin's racist remarks, LaSalle kills him.
Raji sends Elliott to kill Chili. By assuring Elliott that he can help his acting career, Chili befriends him. After learning that Chili had gotten him an audition for a Nicole Kidman film, Elliott turns on Raji, who had erased the message on his answering machine. For all his smooth talking and flamboyant wardrobe, Raji finds himself in a firework conflagration which roasts him live on camera. Carr is arrested on murder charges when Chili makes sure he is caught with the bat used to kill Joe Loop.
Chili squeezes in a dance scene with Edie (a nod to the "Twist Contest" scene in Pulp Fiction), celebrating as Linda Moon gets to make her appearance with Aerosmith in concert. Lasalle agrees to become Linda's new producer. At the MTV Video Music Awards, Linda wins the awards for best new artist and video of the year. During her acceptance speech, she thanks Edie, Sin and Chili. Edie and Chili leave the award ceremony. And as Chili drives off, he passes a billboard revealing that Elliott is the co-star of a new movie with Nicole Kidman.
Cast
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was released on March 1, 2005.
Songs featured in the film but not included on the soundtrack are:
Release
Box office
On a production budget of $53 million, Be Cool grossed $56,046,979 in North American and $39,169,077 internationally, totaling up to $95,216,056 worldwide.
Critical reception
Be Cool received a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 169 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Be Cool is tepid, square, and lukewarm; as a parody of the music business, it has two left feet." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 37 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Halliwell called it "a palpable miss, a movie so lazy and laid back that it falls over; there are none of those insights ... that made Get Shorty so enjoyable".
In an August 2015 interview with Deadline, director F. Gary Gray discussed the failure of the film, stating: "With Be Cool, I made some assumptions in thinking that movie was going to work. I’d just made a successful PG-13 movie [The Italian Job], and when I walked into Be Cool, it was rated R and then at the last minute in preproduction I was told, 'Well, you have to make this PG-13.' I should have walked off the film. This was a movie about shylocks and gangsta rappers and if you can’t make that world edgy, you probably shouldn’t do it. I walked in thinking I was going to make one movie and then it changed. Maybe it was arrogant of me to think because I had success in this realm of PG-13 I could make that work".
References
External links
- Be Cool on IMDb
- Be Cool at Box Office Mojo
- Be Cool at Rotten Tomatoes
- Be Cool at Metacritic