Vince Vaughn, The Rock, Andre 3000 and Cedric the Entertainer

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THE NEVADA SAGEBRUSH, TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005
www.nevadasagebrush.com
BeModerate
Vince Vaughn, The Rock, Andre 3000 and
Cedric the Entertainer save the mediocre
comedy ‘Be Cool’ from an absolute failure
JARED HARMON
Rift Editor
T
he ugly truth about sequels is that
from the earliest stages of production
a dark cloud looms over every facet of
the film making process. It rages and
storms and more often than not it washes
away any semblance of cinematic integrity
until all that is left is a shivering shell of a
film revealing it’s true nature — to make
money.
“Be Cool,” the new sequel to 1995’s “Get
Shorty,” will likely be remembered as such a
film.
“Get Shorty” was a dark, comic look at the
underbelly of Hollywood, a place where only
mafia hitman Chili Palmer (John Travolta,
“Pulp Fiction”) could make it big. It was clever,
violent and hilarious.
“Be Cool” is just a copy of a copy. Chili abandons the world of film to try his hand in the
music business and meets the requisite unsavory characters. The plot is ripe with potential,
but it never fully grabs the audience. The wit
of the original has all but disappeared, the vio-
lence is watered down in order to keep the PG13 rating and the comedy is hit or miss
— as is the cast.
Travolta simply doesn’t have
the screen dominance he did
his first time around as Chili.
Maybe it’s that he’s hard to
take seriously after making
“Battlefield Earth,” but he
just seems to wade his way
through every scene with
none of the fun and flair he
had in “Get Shorty.”
Palmer’s business partner,
Edie (Uma Thurman, “Pulp
Fiction”), is just set decoration, hardly contributing to
the film but fun to look at,
and seemed to only be cast
so that they could recreate
their famous dance from
“Pulp Fiction.” Christina Milian (“Man of the House”) is Linda
Moon, the struggling singer with a
SEE BECOOL PAGE 38
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MGM AND MOVIEWEB.COM
Andre 3000 of the hip-hop duo Outkast, plays Dabu, a
vicious gangsta rapper with an excitable trigger-finger.
Professional wrestler the Rock stars as Elliot Wilhelm, a
gay bodyguard who dreams of being an actor/singer.
Cedric the Entertainer (left) and Harvey Keitel (right) star
as Sin LaSalle and Nick Carr, two violent record producers.