Be Cool

It’s not cool and it’s not clever. Okay, so it’s not awful either. This latest adaptation of an Elmore Leonard, er, novel, is certainly one of the better films from the very chequered Leonard sub-genre and as the follow-up to Get Shorty, no-one could accuse Be Cool of not delivering more of precisely the same.
Less a film than twelve movie-stars in search of a plot, Be Cool is a series of catch-phrases, set-pieces, in-jokes, celebrity cameos (hello Steven Tyler), defanged Hollywood satire and so much LA backslapping it puts one in mind of a line from a much better movie with Harvey Keitel (“Before we all start going down on one another…”).
There is, of course, a slender premise about John Travolta’s loveable shyster Chili Palmer going into the music business with Uma Thurman’s less than grieving widow for a partner. Acting as a kindly godfather-manager for warbler Christina Milian, Travolta acquires several cartoonish foes (the Russian mafia, Cedric The Entertainer’s gangsta-rapper entourage, Keitel’s scowl…) leading to an orgy of bloodless comedy violence and self-referentiality.
If Get Shorty was Elmore Leonard writing Tarantino writing Elmore Leonard, Be Cool is something more heightened again. I wish I could say that were a good thing, but no film not featuring Sid James has ever contrived to wink and nudge at the audience quite so much.
 That said, some of the gags work. The Rock (who now bizarrely has to pay royalties to the WWE in order to avoid reverting to Dwayne Johnson) playing a bad actor – ho ho – is actually quite funny, as is Vince Vaughn’s ridiculous wigger-pimp until you want to strangle him (five minutes in). Meanwhile, particularly devoted Tarantino fans can pleasure themselves for hours online swapping stats on the Honda sightings in the movie.
Even discounting these folks, no self-respecting film fan will want to miss Be Cool for reasons of schaudenfraude. The dance scene between Travolta and Thurman is so spectacularly ill co-ordinated they might as well be drunk on stilts. It’s just like Pulp Fiction never happened. Those Look Who’s Talking franchise people must be expecting a call any day now…

Running Time 120mins. Cert 15pg. Opens April 1st