Be Cool

Get Shorty had all the cool, humour and quality that made Ocean's Eleven a success. Be Cool comes up short on all counts. F. Gary Gray continues his streak of poor films with this overlong, under-funny sequel.

The number of stars on offer is impressive and there is a rich underbelly of character connotation - The Rock's eyebrow, John Travolta dancing - to this otherwise superficial film, enhanced by cameos from music industry notables, such as Fred Durst. Music names and faces are also given pride of place in the storyline. Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler spends more time on screen than is aesthetically bearable and Andre 3000 gives a mildly entertaining performance as Dabu, a trigger-happy member of the WMDs. The range of characters results in a number of subplots that interweave to create a tangled story arc. The length of the cast list also prevents Be Cool from containing much plot development and thus we are presented with an array of personalities with whom we struggle to sympathise.

Travolta enters the role of Chili Palmer with ease, rehashing the same attitude from Get Shorty. His co-stars are lacking considerably in the style and presence that the players in that film exuded continually, Uma Thurman being a miserable replacement for the sexy Rene Russo.

Replacement is a key word here. The story is an exact replica of the first film, with new actors in what are basically the same roles. Gray even delivers the same scenes - Chili in bed with a woman as someone waits downstairs, getting his attention by turning on the stereo instead of the television as in the first. The Rock takes the role of the cuddly bodyguard that James Gandolfini made his own and does a great job playing against type, delivering most of the film's funny moments. Vince Vaughn plays the vastly irritating "badass," who's just looking for his name on the credits, a la Delroy Lindo as Bo Welch.

This is a simple good vs bad tale, in which the heroes never come across as being the underdogs. Chili's constant presentation of cool results in the audience's unflinching confidence that he'll come out of it alive and Edie's (Uma Thurman) complete lack of resistance to him means he'll get the girl, too, which we weren't so sure about first time around. The result is a supreme lack of tension, which elongates an already lengthy film, causing the self-conscience John and Uma dance sequence to drag on relentlessly.

The comedy is reliant solely on racial stereotypes. Everyone knows that all black people carry guns and wear their trousers around their knees and everyone knows that Russians hate black people just a touch more than everyone else. And, of course, the music industry (the same industry in which Pete Waterman is a player) is run by old gangsters like Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel), who put out hits on people if they break contract.

Be Cool needs to get real. Gray is out of his depth once again, getting lost in numerous plot lines and depicting Peter Steinfeld's script with the sad, empty philosophy that if he shoots from many different angles, it will make the film more interesting to watch. He should have concentrated his efforts on script rewrites and meaningful story boarding.

The Rock brings entertainment to the proceedings, the Aerosmith concert footage is under edited, but electrifying nonetheless, and the final redeeming feature is the way this sequel makes Get Shorty look like a modern masterpiece.

Be cool and avoid.