Disenchanted with the movie industry, Chili Palmer tries the music industry, meeting and romancing a widow of a music executive on the way.Disenchanted with the movie industry, Chili Palmer tries the music industry, meeting and romancing a widow of a music executive on the way.Disenchanted with the movie industry, Chili Palmer tries the music industry, meeting and romancing a widow of a music executive on the way.
- Awards
- 1 win & 13 nominations total
- Elliot Wilhelm
- (as The Rock)
- Sin LaSalle
- (as Cedric the Entertainer)
- Dabu
- (as André Benjamin)
- Darryl
- (as GregAlan Williams)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
F. Gary Gray does a neat job. The jokes work excellently. The film is well-paced and the writing is consistent. Steinfeld does a good job of rewriting Leonard's book for the big screen. The humour works excellently. None of the jokes fall flat and the cast and crew seem to have had a blast making this film.
It's a shame that the film wasn't as big a success as it's prequel. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than 'Get Shorty'. Above all, 'Be Cool' is a splendid entertainer that will draw loads of laughs.
More characters are introduced in "Be Cool" and they are more outrageous. Actors such as Vince Vaughn, The Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andre, bring some good flavor to the movie. Just like with "Get Shorty", there are other sub-plots that all tie together into the main plot and main character. The movie has more-or-less a similar theme and flow to it as "Get Shorty". I think there were a few more funny parts in "Be Cool", but it lacked the originality of "Get Shorty."
I noticed that there was a different director for this project. His resume' isn't that long, but he has done "Friday", "The Negotiator","The Italian Job", and he is on "The Brazilian Job" project. These weren't that bad, nor was "Be Cool". If he continues to improve from here, he will wind up with a very nice career.
Getting all the characters on-screen spread them all out a little bit thin, with some barely getting any screen time at all. Most of the better characters got more screen time than I thought they would have. Thankfully, the great chemistry between Vince Vaughn and The Rock gets quite a bit of screen time. Another newcomer who delivers a surprising performance is André Benjamin, or André 3000 as Dabu. Dabu is one of the many in Sin LaSalle's (Cedric The Entertainer) entourage, along with many very large men.
There are many more actors and actresses in this cast but the best characters were those mentioned above. Dustin Hoffman pulled off a great performance, as usual, but even he seemed overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Uma Thurman, Steven Tyler, Danny DeVito, James Woods, Harvey Keitel and many others round off this great cast. I doubt all these actors would commit to something as horrible as we are all led to believe.
The Rock is starting to branch out with his acting range. His big gay bodyguard routine was hilarious, as I doubt I'll ever forget his rendition of "You're Not Woman Enough To Take My Man". Rock and Vince Vaughn as the wannabe pimp complimented each other perfectly and along with Cedric, they are the highlights of the movie. Also, Christina Milian looks to be one of the hotter new actresses on her way up and I was impressed by what I assume was her lip-syncing performance with Steven Tyler. Look for her to be around for awhile.
This was a large cast and, for the most part, they all held their own. My honest review is that this movie is better than it is being given credit for, possibly due to the incredible amount of hype put into it, turning many viewers against it. I went into this movie with an open mind and not expecting a great movie and I came out entertained. Because of this, I can recommend this movie with a clear conscience.
Some movies play with this idea, and "Get Shorty" was one of the most clever of these.
It had two elements: that notion of acting cool and the explicit self-reference of putting it in movies, complete with the command to "look at me."
Behind it was one of the coolest thinkers in cinema, Danny Devito who is a kind of patron saint of self-reference. He who made a film based on "Pale Fire" and whose "Death to Smoochy" is a pinnacle of sorts of introspective writing.
Now comes this, which starts out okay, along the same lines of heavy self-reference until we learn that Devito is to star in a biopic of Johnny Cash.
Then the grind of the inferior mind behind it begins.
Seems they had some idea that Uma Thurman fit into an intelligent enterprise somewhere.
Nope, none of the few things she can do fit into self-reference or folding in any way.
Seems they decided that a mere reference to performance wasn't enough, we had to have the whole pretty-girl-overcomes-adversity thing complete with several performances.
Nope, again.
And they figured that all the cool identity stuff would be carried by a white guy acting black and a black guy acting white.
Nope, nope , nope.
Go watch any Devito-inspired project rather than this.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJohn Travolta suggested Uma Thurman for the role of Edie, wanting to re-create their chemistry from Pulp Fiction (1994).
- GoofsWhen Chili meets Steven Tyler after the basketball match, Tyler can be seen mouthing other actors' lines.
- Quotes
Sin LaSalle: Have you lost your mind? I mean, how is it that you can disrespect a mans ethnicity when you know we've influenced nearly every facet of white America... from our music to our style of dress. Not to mention your basic imitation of our sense of cool; walk, talk, dress, mannerisms... we enrich your very existence, all the while contributing to the gross national product through our achievements in corporate America. It's these conceits that comfort me when I am faced with the ignorant, cowardly, bitter and bigoted, who *have* no talent, no guts? people like you who desecrate things they don't understand when the truth is - you should say thank-you, man? and go on about your way. But apparently you are incapable of doing that! So...
[shoots his gun]
Sin LaSalle: ... and don't tell me to be cool. I *am* cool!
- Crazy creditsIn the closing credits, the various cast members are seen dancing, even the Russian "corpse".
- ConnectionsEdited into Lovewrecked (2005)
- SoundtracksSexy
Written by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Will.i.am (as Will Adams)
Performed by The Black Eyed Peas
Courtesy of A&M Records
Under License from Universal Music Enterprises
- How long is Be Cool?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Tómalo con calma
- Filming locations
- Canter's Deli - 419 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, California, USA(Raji's meeting with Joe Loop)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $53,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $56,046,979
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $23,450,212
- Mar 6, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $95,763,716
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
Contribute to this page
