| Be Cool | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | F. Gary Gray |
| Screenplay by | Peter Steinfeld |
| Based on | Be Cool byElmore Leonard |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jeffrey L. Kimball |
| Edited by | Sheldon Kahn |
| Music by | John Powell |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | MGM Distribution Co. (United States) 20th Century Fox (International)[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 120 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $53–75 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $95.8 million[2] |
Be Cool is a 2005 Americancrime comedy film based onElmore Leonard's 1999 novel, which was the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novelGet Shorty. The movie is the sequel to the 1995film adaptation ofGet Shorty, withJohn Travolta reprising his role and also starringCedric the Entertainer,Andre Benjamin,Vince Vaughn,Robert Pastorelli,Uma Thurman,James Woods,Christina Milian,Steven Tyler,Dwayne Johnson,Harvey Keitel, andDanny DeVito. The plot follows mobster Chili Palmer, portrayed by Travolta, as he enters into the music industry.
The film adaptation ofBe Cool began production in 2004. It was directed byF. Gary Gray and produced by DeVito,Michael Shamberg, andStacey Sher. The film was released on March 4, 2005, receiving negative reviews and grossing $95 million against a budget of $53–75 million.
Ernesto "Chili" Palmer, restless and disenchanted with filmmaking, enters the music industry after witnessing theUkrainian mob publicly whack his friend Tommy Athens, owner of a small, independent record label. Chili offers to help Tommy's widow, Edie Athens, manage the failing business, which owes $300,000 to hip-hop producer Sin LaSalle.
Chili is impressed by small-time club singer Linda Moon and helps free her from contractual obligations to crooked producers Nick Carr and Raji, who has agaySamoan bodyguard named Elliot, an aspiring actor and the butt of Carr and Raji'shomophobic jokes. Carr and Raji pay hitman Joe "Loop" Lupino to kill Chili before he can save Edie's company by arranging a live performance for Linda accompanied bySteven Tyler andAerosmith.
Lasalle demands payment of the $300,000 but agrees to give Chili a few days to get the money plus thevig. When the Ukrainians attempt to kill Chili, Joe Loop mistakenly kills mob enforcer Ivan Argianiyev. Carr is furious about the mistake and demands that Raji talks to Loop at once. Raji then beats Loop to death with a metal baseball bat after Loop "disrespects" him.
Carr then tries to trick Chili by handing him apawn ticket, claiming that the only copy of Linda's contract is at a pawn shop owned by the Ukrainians. Chili, being much smarter than Carr anticipated, has Edie tip off theFBI and starts a fight to get the shop raided. Raji and Elliot then set up LaSalle by making him believe that Carr tricked Chili into giving him the $300,000 to get Linda's contract. LaSalle and his bodyguards, rap group DubMD, confront Carr in his office, as does the Ukrainian boss, Bulkin, and his men. Insulted by Bulkin's racist remarks, LaSalle personally murders him on impulse.
Chili squeezes in a dance scene with Edie, celebrating as Linda Moon gets to make her appearance and becomes an instant success. He also manages to placate LaSalle by agreeing that he will produce Linda's next album and get a share of the profits.
Carr is enraged upon hearing of the deal, so he and Raji order Elliot to kill Chili. By assuring Elliot that he can help his acting career, Chili befriends him. After learning that Chili had gotten him an audition for aNicole Kidman film, Elliot turns on Raji, who had erased the message on his answering machine. For all his smooth talking and flamboyant wardrobe, Raji is burned to death on camera by a fireworks explosion. Carr is arrested on murder charges when Chili makes sure he is caught with the bat used to kill Joe Loop, via another pawn ticket.
At theMTV Video Music Awards, Linda wins the awards forbest new artist andvideo of the year. During her acceptance speech, she thanks Edie, Sin and Chili. Edie and Chili leave the award ceremony. As Chili drives off, he passes a billboard revealing that Elliot is the co-star of a new movie with Kidman.
The film's soundtrack was released on March 1, 2005.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fantasy" (Earth, Wind & Fire) | 3:46 |
| 2. | "Hollywood Swinging" (Kool & the Gang) | 3:26 |
| 3. | "Be Thankful for What You Got" (William DeVaughn) | 5:45 |
| 4. | "Roda" (Elis Regina) | 2:35 |
| 5. | "Sexy" (The Black Eyed Peas) | 4:44 |
| 6. | "Suga Suga (Reggae Remix)" (Baby Bash) | 4:10 |
| 7. | "The Boss" (James Brown) | 3:12 |
| 8. | "Ain't No Reason" (Christina Milian) | 3:12 |
| 9. | "Believer" (Christina Milian) | 3:14 |
| 10. | "Brand New Old Skool" (777) | 4:34 |
| 11. | "G's and Soldiers" (Planet Asia featuringKurupt) | 4:12 |
| 12. | "Cool Chill (Instrumental)" (John Powell) | 3:56 |
| 13. | "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" (Sonny & Cher) | 3:15 |
| 14. | "You Ain't Woman Enough" (Loretta Lynn, performed byThe Rock in the film) | 3:31 |
Songs featured in the film but not included on the soundtrack are:
On a production budget of $53–75 million,Be Cool grossed $56 million in North America and $39.2 million internationally, totaling up to $95.2 million worldwide.[2][3]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 30% based on 171 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."[4] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[5] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[6]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times called it "A classic species of bore: a self-referential movie with no self to refer to. One character after another, one scene after another, one cute line of dialogue after another, refers to another movie, a similar character, a contrasting image, or whatever."[7]Halliwell called it "a palpable miss, a movie so lazy and laid back that it falls over; there are none of those insights ... that madeGet Shorty so enjoyable".[8]
In an August 2015 interview withDeadline, directorF. Gary Gray discussed the failure of the film, stating: "WithBe 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 intoBe 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."[9]
