Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

sol- Whereas 'Get Shorty' focused on a mob debt collector turned motion picture producer, this flamboyant sequel has the former debt collector trying his hand at the music industry after become disillusioned with Hollywood. As a long-awaited sequel (released ten years after the original), 'Be Cool' opened to harsh criticism and mixed reviews, but watched more than ten years further down the track, it stacks up better than one might expect. The dialogue is extremely self-referential with John Travolta's protagonist hilariously lamenting the fact that Hollywood does so many sequels and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler announcing that he doesn't want to be "one of those singers who turns up in movies" for a quick money grab. 'Be Cool' also does a great job quoting much of 'Get Shorty''s iconic dialogue and there is an even amusing billboard for 'Mr. Lovejoy' - the original movie's unmade film-within. Not all of the self-aware elements work with the filmmakers trying a bit too hard to reference 'Pulp Fiction' given the reteaming of Travolta and Uma Thurman; the characters are also goofier this time round, which results in there never being much sense of danger in the air. In general though, the film is mostly good news. Not all of the ensemble cast are in top form (OutKast's André 3000 is especially irksome) but the ones who are in good form simply shine. Dwayne Johnson is particularly noteworthy as a bodyguard who is oblivious to his gay mannerisms and who Travolta keeps managing to disarm by telling him that he has movie star qualities.

Da Mann Travola has been apart of two of the worst movie ever to be on the big screen. This mess and Battlefield Earth. What makes this movie so bad is that it is a sequel to a very good movie "Get Shorty". There should not have been a sequel to Get Shorty. Where Get Shorty was original and creative, this movie was a complete money grab put together like a PB&J sandwich for a kid late for school. The premise was bad, the acting awful and about a third of the movie was a musical. I didn't care for any of the singing or Vince Vaughn's wannabe pimp acting. Vince Vaughn is usually hysterical. He was just corny. The Rock didn't help much either. This movie was just cheesy and immature. I don't know how this movie wasn't dismissed.

pkarnold There are occasions when I like a sequel more than the original. Be Cool is one of these. I liked Get Shorty, but it was a little disturbing with some of the violence. I honestly think that Be Cool is much funnier. One way I know I like a movie is if I am channel surfing and I see a movie I know and I stop to watch it again. Well, I did that with Get Shorty the other night, and I realized I like Be Cool better.I think the main reason is the comic performances by actors like Vince Vaughn, who plays a bumbling, silly gangster wannabe (Raji). He is hung out over the edge of the building and he tries to spell his name and can't do it and that cracked me up. I also like Cedric the Entertainer who plays a movie producer (Sin LaSalle) with hired gangster enforcers that he has to tell to be quiet in his upscale neighborhood because they're playing their SUV stereos too loud.Dwayne Johnson (The Rock from WWE) plays a recording star-wannabe/enforcer for the Vince Vaughan character, and is very funny. Robert Pastorelli gets a fun appearance as a mafia assassin (Joe Loop), and chokes to death eating a ham and coleslaw sandwich as Vince Vaughan tries to intimidate him with a red aluminum baseball bat.So maybe I'm the only person that liked this movie, and the comic memories it has for me. Just to give you an idea of other sequels I like better than the originals there's Die Hard II, and Star Trek II.Add in another good comic performance by Andre' Benjamin (Dabu) and I must say this is a funny, enjoyable movie at least for me. Perhaps people don't like this movie because it seems like John Travolta (Chili Palmer) is pretty much a straight man for Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andre' Benjamin, but hey you don't have good comedy without a good straight man. And here's my spoiler, I liked the ending, and the unique way the credits were rolled.

ofumalow This movie is a latterday exemplar of the type that gets made because umpteen agents and studio executives have convinced themselves that a starry prior hit can be sequelized into an even starrier, bigger hit--ergo no expense should be spared in terms of production-value excess, name-performer baggage (here extending to the realms of standup comedy, rock, rap and R&B stars), and miscellaneous expensive whatnot.\John Travolta gets to reprise his too-cool-for-school protagonist from "Get Shorty," and nods to "Pulp Fiction" in a dance sequence with reunited female lead Uma Thurman. Those are just a couple of the film's myriad "in-joke" Hollywood or music-industry references, which come off as less clever than simply a smug exercise of A-list privilege. (The only reason this movie includes variably brief appearances by Wyclef Jean, James Woods, Fred Durst, Black-Eyed Peas, Gene Simmons, Aerosmith, RZA, Sergio Mendes, Anna Nicole Smith etc. is simply to flaunt its leading characters'--and makers'--infinite fantasy showbiz connectedness.) The results are overblown and pandering--to an imagined mass audience that might enjoy both Elmore Leonard-derived, very Caucasian arch neo-noir comedy and heavy "white negro" (Norman Mailer's phrase) dives into gangsta hiphopdom. But that high-concept gamble failed, as "Be Cool" was not a box-office success.It's a diverting movie due to so many disparate narrative and casting elements, if nowhere near a good one. The racial and gender stereotyping is sometimes borderline offensive, even if it's all meant in "fun." The Rock has funny moments as a bodyguard/wannabe actor, even if his character's homosexuality is used for some cheap jokes. Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Danny DeVito and others are funny guys--at least when they've got better material than they do here. "Be Cool" isn't bad. It's the equivalent of fleetingly entertaining but instantly forgettable star vehicles from Hollywood's "Golden Age." Except those at least faked sincerity--this is an entirely cynical enterprise. It's a deliberate, crass cash cow that despite everything failed to give birth to more money.