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Movies / On DVD / Be Cool
Be Cool

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Be Cool (2005)

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Reviews Counted:165

Fresh:48

Rotten:117

Average Rating:4.6/10

Consensus: Be Cool is tepid, square, and lukewarm; as a parody of the music business, it has two left feet.

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: In this sequel to the 1995 mobster comedy GET SHORTY, John Travolta returns as Chili Palmer, a smooth-talking loanshark turned successful movie producer. But he's tired of the film industry, and so... In this sequel to the 1995 mobster comedy GET SHORTY, John Travolta returns as Chili Palmer, a smooth-talking loanshark turned successful movie producer. But he's tired of the film industry, and so he sets his sights on the music business, teaming up with music producer Edie (Uma Thurman)--the widow of a recently murdered colleague. Seeing great potential in an up-and-coming singer named Linda Moon (Christina Milian), Chili makes it his goal to rescue the young talent from her sleazy manager Raji (Vince Vaughn), and make her a star. But it doesn't take long for Chili to realize that in the music industry, not everybody plays by the rules. Combining organized crime and record label know-how as they infiltrate the music industry, Chili and Edie (Thurman) must free Moon from her contract with Raji and record label exec Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel), while fending off the Russian mafia and a whole slew of enemies, played by Cedric the Entertainer, and Andre Benjamin (of OutKast), among others. Director F. Gary Gray casts The Rock against type as Raji's flamboyant, aspiring-actor bodyguard, Elliot. In fact, the film's most humorous scene might be when Elliot breaks into Edie's home in order to show Chili a monologue from the film BRING IT ON. Overall, the film's tone is a self-referential one, established in the first five minutes by Chili's complaints over the nature of sequels and the PG-13 rating system itself. From here on out, the film's humor becomes more and more dependent on the audiences knowledge of all things pop culture, with a dance scene between Travolta and Thurman recalling their memorable pairing in PULP FICTION. [More]

Starring: Vince Vaughn, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Cedric the Entertainer

Starring: Vince Vaughn, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Cedric the Entertainer, Steven Tyler, Christina Milian, Harvey Keitel, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Danny DeVito, Robert Pastorelli, Paul Adelstein, James Woods, André Benjamin

Director: F. Gary Gray

Director: F. Gary Gray
Screenwriter: Peter Steinfeld
Producer: Danny DeVito, Stacey Sher, Michael Shamberg, David A. Nicksay
Composer: John Powell
Studio: MGM/UA

[See More Credits]

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  • Be Cool Clip: The Dance
    >
    Be Cool Clip: Play My Records
    >
    Be Cool Clip: Twinkle Twinkle Baby
    >
    "Chili and the Cops"
    >
  • Be Cool Trailer
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1 - 4 of 5

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Reviews for Be Cool

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141 - 160 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Hip, zippy, and oh-so-cool.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
03/03/05
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

The bits with Cedric the Entertainer and his gun-toting posse struck me as a flaming racist outrage, and casting The Rock as a flamboyantly gay actor/singer must have looked funnier on paper.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
03/03/05
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

Perfect testament to what Hollywood does best: turn entertaining originals into dull sausage meat.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/03/05
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

Represents the mind-numbing antithesis of cool.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
03/03/05
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer

John Travolta returns as the reformed mobster he played in Get Shorty. But while Get Shorty rode the Pulp Fiction craze with finesse, Be Cool is running on empty.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
03/03/05
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Even Travolta seems disinterested in this bloated sequel, which revisits all the old gags but doesn't possess a tenth of the energy found in the original.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
03/03/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

Chili's assessment of a character's movie pitch is a suitable review for this one: 'You've got a premise and a setting but you don't have character arcs or a plot.'

Full Review Source: Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
03/03/05
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

[A] very marginal misfire.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
03/03/05
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

There's an excess of corn, confusion and chaos in Be Cool, but not much of anything you could call comedy.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
03/03/05
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer

The overlong comedy has few laughs and flirts far too much with racist, homophobic humor. A waste of a fine cast.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
03/03/05
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

Manages to re-write both Los Angeles County smoking laws and the history of Liv Tyler’s parentage without batting an eye.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
03/03/05
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

Tepid entertainment.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
03/03/05
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Travolta and an insanely gifted ensemble cast take an average sequel "Be Cool," and turn it one of the year’s best comedies.

Full Review Source: Gazette (MD) | comment Comment
03/03/05
Jeffrey Lyles
Jeffrey Lyles
Gazette (MD)

It's still jolly, goofy fun.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
03/03/05
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday

The only worse thing than starring in a bad movie is using it to call up memories of a time when you were terrific. That's not cool at all.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
03/03/05
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Be Cool is not cool (in fact, Aerosmith is so jurassically uncool, it's about due for an album-of-the-year Grammy), and it's not original.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/03/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Be cool, be lukewarm -- just be somewhere else.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
03/03/05
Phoebe Flowers
Phoebe Flowers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

This stunningly inept movie is an early contender for worst film of 2005.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
03/03/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

F. Gary Gray seems a clueless bystander, watching the new machine attempt to clone the earlier model's rhythms, gestures, and confidence, but never knowing which switches to flip.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
03/03/05
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice

A bright, colorful misfire.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
03/03/05
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
 
 
141 - 160 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
all

Latest News for Be Cool

June 26, 2007: Travolta On the Fence About "Wild Hogs 2"
Everyone was shocked when "Wild Hogs" became one of the biggest hits of all four stars' careers. It made so much money that it seems like they'd have to make... More...

March 05, 2007: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Audiences Ride with Wild Hogs at #1
Moviegoers rallied behind the star-driven comedy "Wild Hogs," which raced to number one at the North American box office, zooming past all expectations from Disney.... More...

March 01, 2007: Box Office Guru Preview: "Wild Hogs" Aims to Run Over "Ghost Rider"
One super hero on a motorcycle looks to get replaced by four middle-aged bikers at the number one spot at the North American box office this weekend. More...

September 18, 2006: Box Office Wrapup: Gridiron Gang #1, but Box Office Still Fumbles
Wrestler-turned-actor The Rock suffered the worst opening of his career with the football drama Gridiron Gang, but thanks to weak competition, it was still enough to capture the... More...

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