Be Cool
| Be Cool | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | F. Gary Gray |
| Written by | Peter Seinfeld |
| Produced by | Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, David Nicksay |
| Starring | John Travolta Uma Thurman Vince Vaughn Cedric the Entertainer André Benjamin Steven Tyler Robert Pastorelli Anna Nicole Smith Christina Milian Harvey Keitel with The Rock and Danny De Vito |
| Distributed by | MGM Distribution Co. |
Release dates | March 4, 2005 |
Running time | 115 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $53,000,000 |
Be Cool is a 2005 movie which was adapted from a 1999 novel. The book was the sequel to the 1990 novel Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard (itself adapted into an acclaimed hit 1995 film) about mobster Chili Palmer's entrance into the music industry.
The film version of Be Cool started production in 2003. It was directed by F. Gary Gray, produced by Danny DeVito (who produced and co-starred in the first film), and starred John Travolta, reprising his role from the first film. The movie opened in March 2005 to generally negative reviews, and was released to video and DVD distribution on June 7, 2005.
Synopsis
Chili Palmer helps the widow, Edie, of an executed friend, Tommy Athens, resurrect a record company using the talents of young and talented female vocalist and songwriter, Linda Moon. The plot is complicated by several facts:
- Russian Mafia are trying to kill Chili because he witnessed the execution of Athens.
- Chili takes Moon despite her contractual obligations to Nick Carr and Raji.
- Athens' record company owes money to a gangster-type producer, Sin LaSalle.
Plot
Chili Palmer (Travolta), sick of film making, enters the music industry when his friend, Tommy Athens (Woods) and owner of a record company, is executed by a Russian mobster, which Chili witnesses. Chili uses the opportunity to help his friend's widow, Edie Athens (Thurman), manage the failing business, which owes $300,000 to the Hip Hop mogul Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer). Chili enters the music industry on the talents of a female entertainer, Linda Moon (Christina Milian). Moon convinces Chili to take on her cause, getting out of contractual obligations to Nick Carr (Keitel) and Raji (Vaughn), who has a gay bodyguard named Eliott (played by The Rock), an aspiring actor and the butt of Carr and Raji's homophobic jokes. Carr and Raji take exception to Chili's intervention, and hire a hitman, Joe Loop (Robert Pastorelli) to kill Chili. In the meantime, Chili convinces Edie to produce Moon, hoping to resurrect Athens' failing record company through a live performance with Aerosmith and Steven Tyler.
The movie follows the downfall of each of these unscrupulous enemies of Chili. Sin LaSalle begins by threatening Chili and Edie for payment of the US$300,000; but Chili and Edie convince Sin to give them a few days to get the money with a vig. When the Russians attempt to kill Chili, Joe Loop mistakenly kills the Russian hitman. Raji then kills the hitman (Joe Loop) with a bat after Loop "disrespects" him. Carr angers the Russian mobsters who make an untimely visit to Carr's office while Sin LaSalle is there. Insulted by the Russian mob boss, LaSalle kills him. In the meantime, Raji sends Elliot to kill Chili. However, Chili, in cool fashion, befriends the gay man and tells him that he can help him out with his acting career. When Carr threatens Chili, Chili slyly sends him to the hands of the police. Finally when Raji and Elliot threaten Chili, Chili again befriends Elliot, who turns on Raji in defense of Chili. For all his smooth talking and flamboyant wardrobe, Raji finds himself on the receiving end of fireworks which ends up roasting him live on camera. While on the other end, Carr ends up getting arrested by the police on murder charges.
During all of this befuddling Chili manages to squeeze in a dance scene with Edie (the awaited Travolta-Thurman reunion from Pulp Fiction), and Moon gets her debut with Aerosmith. In the end LaSalle becomes the producer for Moon and Elliot embarks on a successful acting career.
Box office totals
Template:Infobox movie certificates
- Production Budget: $53,000,000
- Est. Marketing Costs: N/A (based on number of theatres that released it possibly between 20 and 30 million dollars)
- Domestic: $56,046,979 (58.8%)
- Overseas: $39,169,077 (41.2%)
- Worldwide: $95,216,056
- Went to No.1 its opening weekend collecting over 23m.
Differences between the film and the novel
There are many differences between the novel Be Cool and the film adaption. Some of the most prominent are:
- The film tends to focus on pop music, with Linda Moon being a pop artist. In the novel, Linda Moon is part of a rock band named Odessa, who are described as "AC/DC meets Patsy Cline".
- In the novel, Sin LaSalle's name is Sin Russell. He is not sophisticated or intelligent like he is depicted in the film. He and his rap group do not play a large role in the plot of the novel either. Most of them are either killed or put in intensive care after a shoot-out with the Russians.
- The Russians run a 1-Hour photo business, not a Pawn Shop.
- The Russians play a smaller role in the novel's plot than the film's. Chili still manages to turn Sin and his rappers against the Russians, but it culminates in a shoot-out half way through the novel. Neither party returns later in the plot.
- Raji is not a young, white man that acts black in the novel. In the novel, he is a short black man in his 50's. He's less humorous and more malevolent.
- Sin's rap group is known as Ropa-Dope, not DubMDs.
- The film totally excludes Chili's love interest Elaine, who was also left out of the film version of Get Shorty, as well. Chili does not pursue a relationship with Edie, like he does in the film.
- Nick Carr's name is Nick Car, which is short for Nicky Carcaterra.
- Nick Car has no involvement in Raji's plot to kill Chili Palmer, nor is he an antagonist.
Trivia
- Bestselling author Dan Brown and his wife Blythe have a brief appearance in the movie, in the front row of the audience during the Aerosmith concert.
- The character played by Cedric the Entertainer, Sin LaSalle, is seen by many as a parody of either Suge Knight or Sean Combs.
- Similar to the "Cadillac of minivans" remark about the Oldsmobile Silhouette in Get Shorty, the Honda Insight is referred to as the "Cadillac of gas-electric Hybrids.
- The Rock does his famous "People's Eyebrow". One of the talents that made him famous in the WWE.
- The entire song "You ain't woman enough to take my man" is available on the Special Features section on the DVD.
- The book is dedicated to the Stone Coyotes who inspired Elmore to write about committed and truly talented songwriters. Lyrics used in the book are written by the Stone Coyotes.
- Steven Tyler says the song Sweet Emotion was written about Elissa Perry, the first wife of Joe Perry, with whom Tyler had an acrimonious relationship.
- Sin's monologue, in the scene when Sin confronts Nick when Sin believes Nick has his 300,000 dollars and the leader of the Russian Mafia calls him a nigger, was not in the book or original script. F. Gary Gray wanted the Sin character to be liked but wants him to be serious as well.
- At the beginning of the movie, Chili says that a movie can only use the "F" word once to avoid an "R" rating. Chili thinks poorly of this policy, saying "Fuck that". This is the only use of the "F" word in this PG-13–rated film.
- Gene Simmons and Fred Durst are seen behind Travolta near the end of the movie when they were at the award show
- Other than Pulp Fiction, this is the only movie in which John Travolta and Uma Thurman have starring roles in the same film.
- While there may be no official connection between their characters, Harvey Kietel (Nick Carr) has a cameo at the end of Get Shorty as the actor playing Ray Bones (played by Dennis Farina throughout Get Shorty) for the filming of Get Leo.
