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Be Cool (2005)

tomatometer

30

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 169
Fresh: 50 | Rotten: 119

Be Cool is tepid, square, and lukewarm; as a parody of the music business, it has two left feet.

16

Average Rating: 4.2/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 32

Be Cool is tepid, square, and lukewarm; as a parody of the music business, it has two left feet.

audience

48

liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 196,167

My Rating

Movie Info

Underworld hipster Chili Palmer is back in the entertainment business in this sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty, which like the first film is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard. Gangster-turned-movie producer Chili (once again played by John Travolta) has grown tired of the screen trade, especially after his latest project turned out to be a box-office flop. Chili is looking for new horizons and thinks he may have found his niche when his close friend Tommy Athens (James Woods), a fellow mobster

PG-13, 1 hr. 59 min.

Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

Peter Steinfeld

Jun 7, 2005

$55.6M

MGM/UA

Cast

All Critics (180) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (126) | DVD (29)

I was really glad when it was over.

April 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

One of the cuddliest, cutest movies you'll ever see about mobsters and murderers.

March 7, 2005 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

You know a sequel isn't working when, ten minutes into the movie, a voice inside your head starts screaming, 'Please make it stop!'

March 7, 2005 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Be Cool lacks both a focus and an edge, making it an amorphous mess.

March 5, 2005 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie feels more like a cavalcade of personalities than anything resembling a story.

March 5, 2005 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's kind of -- hmmmm, less than good, a little better than not bad, almost all right, mediocre without being grating, sort of in the C-minus-to-C-minus-minus range.

March 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Be Cool sounds like it should be good, or at least entertaining, but it's neither. It does have some genuinely fun moments, but lacks a strong narrative to hang them off of. The result is empty, full of contrivances, and ultimately unsatisfying.

January 7, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | Comment
ComingSoon.net

Watered-down sequel isn't meant for kids.

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Self-mocking jokes prevail in F. Gary Gray's feisty cinematic version of Elmore Leonard's irreverent Los Angeles based novel.

April 18, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
ColeSmithey.com

click to read review [Greek]

September 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | Comment
Movies for the Masses
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Be Cool

I dont remember a whole lot but I remember thinking, "What the hell is the movie even about?" The commercials boasted an all-star cast but that is all that it delivered. One forgettable, dry, and pretentious movie.

November 25, 2011
Albert Kim

Super Reviewer

Loved the songs and it was funny (most of the time). And I must say, Rock was hilarious.

May 2, 2011
3niR
Dead Angel

Super Reviewer

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