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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 9849
Released: June 7, 2005 |
| Our Price: $1.37 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Starring an unbelievably hip all-star cast, including John Travolta, Uma Thurman, André 3000, Steven Tyler and The Rock, and bursting with the hottest music in the biz, Be Cool is the wildly hilarious tale about a gangster turned music mogul and what it takes to be number one with a bullet. When Chili Palmer (Travolta) decides to try his hand in the music industry, he romances thesultry widow (Thurman) of a recently whacked music exec, poaches a hot young singer (Christina Milian) from a rival label and discovers that the record industry is packin' a whole lot more than a tune!
Description of Be Cool (Widescreen Edition):
Be Cool takes its own advice: It's slick, Hollywood entertainment that kills two amusing hours with relative ease and comfort. Better than leftovers but not as tasty as a full-course meal, this sequel to 1995's hit comedy Get Shorty (and based on Elmore Leonard's 1999 sequel novel) finds former loan shark Chili Palmer (John Travolta) itching to get out of the movie business, so he hooks up with a newly widowed music executive (Uma Thurman) to launch the career of an up-'n-coming Beyoncé-like singer (newcomer Christina Milian). A mock-black manager (Vince Vaughn), his sleazy boss (Harvey Keitel), and an upscale gangsta-rap executive (Cedric the Entertainer) all have a competing stake in the fast-rising pop diva's future, and this sets the plot rolling in a fun but rather hand-me-down fashion that lacks the savvy panache of Get Shorty but still provides plenty of lightweight humor. The Rock and Outkast's André Benjamin provide the best laughs in supporting roles that effortlessly relieve the movie from the symptoms of sequelitis. --Jeff Shannon
Be Cool (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Has some errors but is still very good 
2008-08-31 - Crime comedy sequel to 1995's Get Shorty. This time John Travolta's loan shark turned film producer has quit the film industry to get into the music business, and with NTL Records boss Uma Thurman he's managing up and coming young starlet Christina Milian, who may be about to make it big. But her former manager, wannabe gangster Vince Vaughn, isn't happy that Travolta has become her new manager and neither is Vaughn's boss Harvey Keitel of Carosell Entertainment, as she was still under contract and they sniff that she may be about to become big news. Their proposed solution? Bump Travolta off. But they're not the only ones after Travolta's head: Thurman's late husband and former co-owner of NTL records James Woods (of TV's Shark fame) was involved in shady business with the Russian Mafia and ended up being murdered by them, and Travolta was a witness to this murder, so the Russian Mafia now want him dead too, to prevent him from potentially IDing them. And gangster and wealthy music producer Cedric The Entertainer is owed $300,000 dollars by the late Woods, and is demanding payment from NTL Records or there will be bloodshed. But when Travolta takes charge and promises Cedric The Entertainer his money by the end of the week the heat is now all on Travolta. Can he deal with all the gangsters after either money or his blood and at the same time steer Milian on the path to stardom?
Comments: I actually enjoyed this movie even more than Get Shorty, as it was more obviously comedic, with lots of good characters. John Travolta once again reprises his role as effortlessly cool former `shylock' Chilli Palmer, this time teaming up with his Pulp Fiction co-star Uma Thurman, Cedric The Entertainer is eloquent as the ruthless yet strangely unscary Ivy League educated gangster who is owed money by NTL Records, Vince Vaughn is hilarious and a complete clown as Milian's former manager who thinks he's black and Christina Milian is cute as the up and coming songstress. There is also a good turn from Harvey Keitel as Vaughn's boss and comedic performances from Dwayne `The Rock' Johnson as Vaughn's gay bodyguard and André Benjamin (aka André 3000 of the band Outkast) as one of Cedric The Entertainer's cronies. As a bonus we also get to see Uma Thurman and John Travolta dancing together in a night club in an obvious nod to that iconic dancing scene from Pulp Fiction. There is also a nice cameo from Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. However, there were some things that were not so good, such as the `someone waiting for you in your living room with the TV on and the lights turned off' device taken from Get Shorty which is used several times in this film, and so becomes clichéd (they should have left it behind in Get Shorty), and Travolta's nonchalance in the face of seeming death near the beginning of the film, which is just unbelievable and quite frankly cringeworthy. But despite this and a few other minor criticisms this film's enjoyment factor - mainly due to the comedy - means that it still warrants four stars. A worthwhile effort.
Lots of actors no substance 
2008-08-04 - I new this movie was made for TV but I figured that with so many well know actors that it would rival real movies. I was wrong. It was quite formula and many of the actors just walked through their parts.
Chili Palmer (John Travolta "Grease" (1978)) ex-shylock goes from movie producer to record producer with the discovery of a suppressed singer Linda Moon (Christina Milian.) Naturally she is under contract to a bad guy. Well so it does not look too simple or like some second rate musical, we through in a black want-to-be, a black gangster singing group, and even the Russian mafia.
One of the main catalysts and the reason to watch this is Uma Thurman who played Irene Cassini in "GATTACA" (1997), and has done the impossible by just keeps looking cuter with age.
Danny DeVito must think he is Alfred Hitchcock as he makes his cameo in the movie.
All in all it is watchable. Buy Blu-ray when yu can but do not expect the acting to get any better.
GATTACA [Blu-ray] ~ Uma Thurman
Be Cool, it's lukewarm
2008-06-16 - Not the same snap and fizz the first one, "Get Shorty", had but still well worth a look. The casting is great but the story about the record industry although adequate doesn't seem as edgy and believable. I don't know if that is because Gene Hackman was more believable or the story was better in the first. Maybe this felt to much like the first ones overall premise of wiseguys being outdone by Chili Palmer, played by John Travolta again. Certainly worth seeing but I would recommend renting before buying. Good quality DVD with some replayability. - C. Luster
Awesome 
2008-03-31 - My favority comedy by far. The cast of characters in this movie is hilarious. A must see!
nice funny movie to watch!
2008-02-16 - i reccomend this movie because its entertaining and funny. Its deffinetely one you would want to watch more than once.
