Be Cool was exactly what I was expecting: a slick Hollywood production which would be enjoyable, but little more than a rehash of its brilliant predecessor, Get Shorty. I only just watched Get Shorty a week or two before Be Cool came out because I wanted to be caught up for the new film, and I had heard that it was a good flick. Well it was. The acting was phenomenal, the story was original and full of interesting developments and twists throughout, and the writing was top-notch. In fact, the dialogue in the film is right up there with some of the best I’ve heard, reminiscent of some of the witty repartee found in films such as Pulp Fiction and Chasing Amy.
Be Cool strives to do justice to Get Shorty, but it just doesn’t cut it. The fact that it has a PG-13 rating as compared to the R-rated Get Shorty is a punch to the gut right off the bat. The harsher dialogue just isn’t as biting and effective in this tapered form, not to mention to nuanced uses of violence in the first film as opposed to the violence of Be Cool which is generally ineffectually off-camera, and played for laughs rather than impact. Furthermore, in the story department, they essentially lifted the Get Shorty plot and placed it in the music industry, only instead of having new and original characters, they chose to go with clichéd, stereotypical characters such as Vince Vaughn playing a white man who wants to be black, and Cedric the Entertainer playing a, GASP, violent rap mogul! Really, the only standouts here are Travolta, who manages to carry the flick with an unassuming ease (really, he’s what makes you want to keep watching), and The Rock as the gay bodyguard who easily gets the most laughs out of the audience. I have to give props to him on a performance well executed.
I think my biggest issue with the film is a personal one, and that is its depiction of the music industry. The story revolves around a young black singer who is trapped performing in a dead-end club, and her journey to stardom. When we are introduced to the true talent that she has, it is in the form of her sitting down at a piano to play and sing an absolutely gorgeous song she wrote herself: unprocessed and utterly pure. How is she championed when she finally makes it big? Techno-driven, bass-thumping, bubblegum pop! This is her great success? This is what she was striving for? No, I don’t think so. And yet, this is supposed to contribute to the “big happy ending?” Sometimes I just can’t stomach Hollywood.
Looking back over this, I think I gave the film a little more of a bum rap than it deserved. The problem is that it is the sequel to such an outstanding and original movie, and it just doesn’t come up to that standard. That being said, however, I would still give this flick a recommendation if you’re looking for something with a little edge, and a little wit with lots of cool-looking stars. Think Ocean’s 12 in terms of what to expect.
6.5/10 Awesomes
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