Grade: C+ | Genre: Comedy Summary: If you want laugh out loud gags, "Be Cool" is a good choice. If you're looking for something with a little more substance and dept, skip it and rent "Get Shorty."

Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric The Enterainer, Christina Milian, Andre 3000, and The Rock
Director: F. Gary Gray

Chili Palmer (Travolta) is back, cool as usual, still getting things done his way. Since "Get Shorty," the former shylock's been a movie producer who is now looking to get in the music business, but deep inside, he is still and always will be a shylock. He's smooth and very capable of getting what he wants, but if necessary, he is able to revert back to the Brooklyn street smarts that got him this far.

"Be Cool" is very aware of itself. It's a sequel that knows where it came from and doesn't shy away from referencing the original.

In the very first scene, Chili spots a movie poster for "Get Lost" (the sequel to "Get Leo") and scoffs at himself for lowering his standards and allowing corporate Hollywood to take his passion/his story and turn it into entertainment fodder for the movie going masses. His self-loathing motivates him to pursue a new passion, but what?

The same way Chili strutted into the movie business he also does with music. With any sequel, you have to give the audience something new, so what else but the music biz? Chili discovers a hot young singer, Linda Moon (Milian), looking for a better opportunity. She's got it all (the voice, the looks, the brains) and could revive Chili's record company of choice run by newly widowed Edie Athens (Thurman). In order to get Moon, they must battle with a rival record label that currently holds her contract and has her for five more years.

"Be Cool" is all about the laughs and not so much the smart sarcastic humor that made "Get Shorty" so special. The film's predecessor is the real "Be Cool" while the sequel is Hollywood's opportunity to cash in on something that worked in the past.

Chili Palmer doesn't grow as a character. He's the same tough guy gangster that we loved in "Pulp Fiction" but got bored with in "Get Shorty." This weakness actually powers the laugh meter by allowing new offbeat characters to steal scenes from Travolta. We meet new characters like Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer), a highly educated and smart businessman who has made himself a part of high society but can turn it around as a Suge Knight type intimidator. Andre 3000 is good enough as Sin's not-so-thug nephew that has a tendency to misfire his gun. Then there's Raji (Vaughn) who is a white guy that acts like a black guy. He's so stereotypical that you feel guilty for laughing so hard. He also has a gay bodyguard, Elliott Wilhelm, who gets laughs because he's played by The Rock! "Twinkle twinkle, baby!"

The problem with "Be Cool" is that it isn't as cool as "Get Shorty." It's a film that rides the coat-tails of it older brother and mooches off its friends like the aforementioned "Pulp Fiction." The pairing of Travolta and Thurman isn't at all developed and is an obvious attempt at generating hype to help sell tickets. You know putting those two together would inspire them to relive their "Pulp" dance number, and it's neither cool nor digestable. There's also Sin's "How Blacks Have Impacted American Pop Culture" speech, which reminds you of the monologue in "Pulp" that Jules likes to use before he pops a cap in a [n-word's] ass!

"Be Cool" tries so hard to succeed "Get Shorty" that is limits its own identity. It goes for the quick laughs and doesn't allow itself to stand on it own. My tip for seeing this movie: don't expect much and watch "Get Shorty" because the references to it make the movie funnier than it really is. If you want laugh out loud gags, "Be Cool" is a good choice. If you're looking for something with a little more substance and depth, skip it and rent Get Shorty.