• Quotes (8)
• Plot Description
• Soundtrack
• Wallpapers
• Shooting Locations
• Popularity
Release Date
• USA: Mar 4, 2005
• UK: 1 Apr 2005
DVD Release Date
• R1: Jun 7, 2005
Budget USD 53,000,000
BoxOffice: $55.6M
Official Website:
Be Cool Website
MPAA Rating
Rated PG-13 for violence, sensuality, and language including sexual references.
Running Time
1 hour, 58 minutes
Country USA
Production Companies
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Jersey Films, Double Feature Films, Nina Saxon Film Design
Studio MGM/UA
More info on IMDb.com
Other Titles
• Be Cool (2005)
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Genre: Crime, Comedy, Hollywood, Gay/Lesbian
Tagline: Everyone is looking for the next big hit
Plot: In this sequel to the 1995 mobster comedy GET SHORTY, John Travolta returns as Chili Palmer, a smooth-talking loanshark turned successful movie producer. But he's tired of the film industry, and so he sets his sights on the music business, teaming up with music producer Edie (Uma Thurman)--the widow of a recently murdered colleague. Seeing great potential in an up-and-coming singer named Linda Moon (Christina Milian), Chili makes it his goal to rescue the young talent from her sleazy manager Raji (Vince Vaughn), and make her a star. But it doesn't take long for Chili to realize that in the music industry, not everybody plays by the rules. Combining organized crime and record label know-how as they infiltrate the music industry, Chili and Edie (Thurman) must free Moon from her contract with Raji and record label exec Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel), while fending off the Russian mafia and a whole slew of enemies, played by Cedric the Entertainer, and Andre Benjamin (of OutKast), among others. Director F. Gary Gray casts The Rock against type as Raji's flamboyant, aspiring-actor bodyguard, Elliot. In fact, the film's most humorous scene might be when Elliot breaks into Edie's home in order to show Chili a monologue from the film BRING IT ON. Overall, the film's tone is a
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Behind the Scenes:
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 Discussion forum for this movie
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... "Be Cool" is running on empty, fueled by nothing more than the faintest of vapors left over from those earlier successes.--Manohla Dargis (The New York Times)
"Be Cool" is a pleasant enough diversion overall, but neither its direction nor screenplay is on par with the Leonard adaptation of "Shorty" or "Jackie Brown."--Barry Paris (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Cool simply suffers from farm-team casting when compared to the major league players that populated Shorty  --Sean O'Connell (FilmCritic.com)
BE COOL has its share of laughs, and Travolta, of course, but even without the shadow of GET SHORTY, it's an unfulfilling experience. I so wanted to like it and it so wouldn't let me, at least not enough to recommend it. For every genuinely clever moment, there were a dozen dull ones...My advice, buy the soundtrack and rent the original.  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)
Be Cool is a mess beyond repair that truly shocked me with its badness. Little did I know strolling into the theater, as I do so often, that this would end up as a viable candidate for my worst films of 2005 list. Insulting, hateful, and most of all unfunny, I can only recommend you "be cool" and avoid this vanity project dreck. 0/1--Bill Clark
Just don’t expect it to be as good as GET SHORTY and you should be okay. Oh, and if you’re a fan of the Rock…strap yourselves on for a fun time with the man…great man! 6/10--'JoBlo' (JoBlo.com)
There's enough genuine humour here to keep us chucking, but an overcrowded cast and plot keep it from coming close to the original.--Rich Cline
It’s this year’s “Big Trouble” or “Envy”--elaborate in design but astonishingly ill-executed and wretchedly unfunny. F--Frank Swietek
"Be Cool" becomes a classic species of bore: a self-referential movie with no self to refer to. One character after another, one scene after another, one cute line of dialogue after another, refers to another movie, a similar character, a contrasting image, or whatever. The movie is like a bureaucrat who keeps sending you to another office.  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
Worst of all is Be Cool's central plotline, all about a generic, Mariah Carey-ish singer (Christina Milian) who aspires to superstardom. --Rene Rodriguez
If you require a logical and engaging story line and well-developed characters, ``Be Cool'' is not the place to look. --James Verniere
To say that ``Be Cool'' lacks the snap of the original confection is to greatly understate what a limp biscuit this cookie-cutter sequel is. Again and again, ``Be Cool'' follows the form of the original, but always to diminishing effect. --Bruce Newman
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| Cast |
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 | Uma Thurman
Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 |
 | Vince Vaughn
Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Wedding Crashers |
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 | Andre 3000
Four Brothers, Hollywood Homicide, Revolver |
 | Steven Tyler
The Polar Express, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years |
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| Be cool and avoid this pathetic sequel like the plague. --Chuck O'Leary
Though "Be Cool" is likewise based on an Elmore Leonard novel and captures something of his hard-boiled patois, Peter Steinfeld's uninspired script strains to entertain by providing loads of shtick for a demographically diverse cast that seems to have been chosen by a focus group.  --Lou Lumenick (New York Post)
Be Cool is chock-full of the kind of power moments that are extremely useful in assembling a trailer. But the filmmakers forgot something: a good story to hold the celebrity bric-a- brac and shtick together. It's as if they tried to build a model airplane without the glue. C--Robert Denerstein
Be Cool, the movie (but also the book), is redundant to the point of being absolutely pointless, a sequel that's almost a note-for-note, beat-for-beat redo of its predecessor, only with all the entertaining stuff left out.--Robert Wilonsky
"Be Cool" might engender disappointment. There's little question that it's flat. But it's not a dislikable film, either. At least it tries to be fresh. And a lot of decent actors make a game go of it.  --Ed Blank
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