Depends what ‘cool’ is

JOHN DEPKO

“Be Cool” is Hollywood’s latest blatant example of a sequel gone

wrong. It’s my first candidate for most disappointing big budget

movie of the year.

Director F. Gary Gray takes the premise of a very strong original

film and dumbs it down to pointless fluff.

It’s a sad and sorry waste of some very fine acting talent.

“Be Cool” is outwardly based on “Get Shorty,” one of the most

innovative and enjoyable movies of 1995.

In both films, John Travolta stays in excellent character as

former loan shark Chili Palmer.

He maintains the right mix of gangster edge and good-guy smarts

that was evident in “Get Shorty.” He plows through the quirky

developments of both movies.

But the favorable comparisons end with Travolta’s performance as

“Be Cool” becomes “Be Stupid.”

Harvey Keitel, Uma Thurman and Danny DeVito are disposable

characters going through some very silly motions.

Cedric the Entertainer and his gun-toting pals play a cartoon

version of hip-hop record label management. Everybody is fighting to

control a young singer who they all pretend will be the next Madonna.

But her performances all look like reruns of “American Idol.”

In all the silliness, there are some amusing moments. The Rock

manages to shine playing a gay bodyguard. Travolta lends sparkle to

his best scenes.

But overall, the whole enterprise is a pale shadow of the first

effort that cries out for what might have been.

* JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator

for the Orange County public defender’s office.