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Critics Consensus: With a perfect cast and a sly twist on the usual Hollywood gangster dynamic, Get Shorty delivers a sharp satire that doubles as an entertaining comedy-thriller in its own right.
Critic Consensus: With a perfect cast and a sly twist on the usual Hollywood gangster dynamic, Get Shorty delivers a sharp satire that doubles as an entertaining comedy-thriller in its own right.
All Critics (53) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (7) | DVD (16)
It's terrifically entertaining.
Hollywood has been in love with mobsters since the beginning of movies. But the other side of the equation has seldom been considered. That is, until now.
A drolly offbeat look at Hollywood mores dedicated to the proposition that the best preparation for becoming a film producer is a stint in the criminal underworld.
An entertaining comedy-thriller adapted by Scott Frank from the Elmore Leonard best-seller and directed with bounce (if not much nuance) by Barry Sonnenfeld.
Everything clicks.
It's part of the joke here that Chili is a die-hard cineaste and loves reminiscing about smart, stylish tough-guy films he has enjoyed. Get Shorty belongs on that list.
Get Shorty - for all its critical and commercial acclaim - has never received its due as one of the funniest Hollywood films of modern times.
Get Shorty belongs to a long line of spoofs that still appeal to Hollywood magic in their very design.
A pleasing satire on gangsters, hustlers and Hollywood.
A freewheeling comedy-thriller with the gift of the gab.
This Hollywood is the one we want to believe exists: no film school snots here, no MBA's, no dock-worker philosophers-turned-screenwriters. Just a town full of second-rate swindlers where a clear-eyed racketeer can keep his eye on the ball and rise.
A very cool, very fresh, very slick crime flick.
Miami gangster and film buff discovers Hollywood work is not that much different than work in the Mob, thank goodness. Travolta has fun playing a mobster who's playing a mobster ("... like inna movies!") who's dream is to play a movie mobster ("... like DeNiro or Pacino!") and Hackman, playing against type, is perfect as a nice guy only acting the part of a sleezeball producer. Everyone in this movie ( like Jerry Lewis maybe) is the star, the writer, the director and the producer of their own mental movie (like here at Flixster!). The only guy in this movie who doesn't want to be in the movies gets whacked in the end, sort've divine retribution. My fav scene has Travolta teaching DeVito how to act tough like a mobster.
Super Reviewer
Chili Palmer: Rough business, this movie business. I'm gonna have to go back to loan-sharking just to take a rest. After watching Get Shorty it seems like it should have been great. The story is there and the cast is there but it never seems to amount to anything above average. I hated the first half of the movie. Then once Danny DeVito's character is introduced it starts to pick up. The cast is great except for one actor who I don't like at all and that would be Dennis Farina. For some reason he just annoys the hell out of me. The movie had a lot of potential, which is really annoying because the movie just wasn't that good. I have thee feeling I'm overrating this just because I really like Travolta and DeVito in this movie and I'm not a huge fan of either of them. As a comedy, Get Shorty really didn't work. There were no really funny parts or lines. It seems like every time gangsters get brought into comedy it turns out bad.
Liked the ending but the movie itself was not that entertaining.
Get Shorty is probably the best example of a Gangster Comedy that I can think of. It has a great plot, interesting and bizarre characters, but mostly it does what it promises to do. This is a genuinely funny movie that showcases its amazing cast of John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo and others. Chili Palmer is basically the stereotype for a slick Shylock, but he knows it and uses it to the advantage of audience. This is a movie that knows it's a movie, but still lets you have a very sustainable story about the entertainment business. There's some really odd moments, but they're purposefully done. Barry Sonnenfeld's idea here was to play around with Elmore Leonard's book and apply it to his unique sense of style. Now a lot of people call this a Tarantino knock-off, but chances are they have no idea what they're talking about. This is based off a work by the same writer as Jackie Brown, so that should be the only justifiable sense of deja vu. Get Shorty mostly finds its comedy in the fact that some of these characters try so hard to be intimidating or scary, but just come off as idiots. A lot of this is accomplished through the acting; John Travolta's great performance is seen through his ability to hit every joke and every character moment just right. Gene Hackman with his fake teeth and nutty getup makes him incredibly goofy, but in the best way possible. Now I think it takes some time to really understand what's going on in Get Shorty, especially due to its genre-bending quality. Given the chance, it's really fun and one of those movies that I can go back to over and over again and still find a lot to love.
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