Movie #61 - Be Cool

Be Cool
MGM
2005 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 58 min
Director: F. Gary Gray
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Andre Benjamin, Steven Tyler, Christina Milian, Harvey Keitel, Dwayne Johnson

Want to learn about the seedy underbelly of the music industry? Here you go.

As the sequel to Get Shorty, this movie stands alone without leaving you confused. I know first hand, since I originally saw this one before I saw Get Shorty. I've seen both now and I feel like they can each stand on their own. Which is a good thing for me since they're alphabetically so distant.

So John Travolta is a big time movie producer who just had a big hit with Get Leo and now he wants in on the music business. Christina Milian plays his first client and a whole host of other big music names show up here and there, like gangster Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000 from Outkast). And of course, as you might guess, everyone wants to kill him. Mostly, they kill each other in the process. Vince Vaughn plays a hell of a pimp, Dwayne Johnson is his gay, star-struck body guard, and Uma Thurman plays the hip, cool music exec.

This one is lots of fun to watch. Travolta is his charming, mischievious self, which is always a good time. It takes on hit-and-runs and hired killers with a certain nonchalance that helps this movie not to take itself too seriously. It's just a good time.