Be Cool

**Be Cool** is a 2005 American crime-comedy film directed by F. Gary Gray which was released on March 5, 2005 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

It is based on Elmore Leonard's 1999 novel of the same name and the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novel, "Get Shorty."

## Plot

Unhappy with the movie industry, Chili Palmer becomes involved in the music industry after witnessing the Russian Mob murder his friend, who was the owner of a record company and offers to manage it.

## Cast

* John Travolta as Chili Palmer
* Uma Thurman as Edie Athens
* Vince Vaughn as Roger "Raji" Lowenthal
* Cedric the Entertainer as Sin LaSalle
* André Benjamin as Dabu
* Robert Pastorelli as Joseph "Joe Loop" Lupino
* Christina Milian as Linda Moon
* Paul Adelstein as Hyman Gordon
* Debi Mazar as Marla
* Dwayne Johnson as Elliot Wilhelm
* Gregory Alan Williams as Darryl
* Harvey Keitel as Nick Carr
* Danny DeVito as Martin Weir
* Seth Green as Shotgun

## Production

Principal photography for "Be Cool" began on February 2, 2004 and ended on April 23, 2004. Filming took place in Los Angeles, California.

Footage for a concert scene featuring Aerosmith and Christina Milian was filmed at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts on June 24, 2004.

John Travolta suggested Uma Thurman for the role of Edie, wanting to re-create their chemistry from the 1994 film, "Pulp Fiction."

James Woods was originally cast in the role of Nick Carr, but he had to drop out due to emergency surgery for an aneurysm. He was given the smaller role of Tommy Athens instead.

Joe Pesci was part of the cast before filming began; however, due to unknown reasons, he left the project shortly before production started.

Barry Sonnenfeld originally intended to return as the director to the follow-up to "Get Shorty", but production delays and scheduling issues precluded that. Brett Ratner was originally set to direct the film, but he pulled out.

This was the final film for Robert Pastorelli; he died of an accidental drug overdose during production on March 8, 2004.

## Box Office

"Be Cool" grossed $23,450,212 during its opening weekend. Overall, it grossed $95,763,716 on an estimated budget of $53,000,000.

## Critical Reception

"Be Cool" has an approval rating of 30% based on 171 reviews with an average rating of 4.6\10. The site's consensus reads: *"Be Cool is tepid, square, and lukewarm; as a parody of the music business, it has two left feet."*

On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale.

The Hollywood Reporter said: *"Be Cool is not really cool as "Get Shorty" was, but it's entertaining, a frivolous cocktail rather than a vintage wine."*

Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune wrote: *"Even if you enjoyed the mean, funny 1995 John Travolta-Elmore Leonard crime comedy "Get Shorty"-and many of us did-this forced sequel isn't likely to help you repeat the experience."*

Lisa Schwartzbaum from Entertainment Weekly described "Be Cool" as *"tepid entertainment that could be cool if it spent less time entertaining us as if we were demanding a definition of rhythm."*

The New Yorker called the film a *"lazy, rhythmless, and redundant piece of moviemaking"* while Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald called it a *"forced and wholly unnecessary sequel."*

David Rooney from Variety called it a *"staggeringly flat sequel that trades filmdom for the music bizbiz and could hardly be less cool."*