Be Cool 2005 by AverageMansReviews

Be Cool 2005 by AverageMansReviews

Review Time

Warning: there is flashing effects/colourful effects/references to Russia and a mention of Ukraine/homophobic slurs/racism/misogyny/shooting/burning/medical

Growing weary of the movie industry: Get Shorty 1995 Link https://averagemansreviews2017.blogspot.com/2023/09/get-shorty-1995-by-averagemansreviews.html Chilli Palmer/Mr. Red Hot Chilli Pepper [John Travolta:] he is an ex-mobster that has been producing films for some time now, but he is getting fed up with it. So in a nutshell he tries is hand in the world of music. So it just happens he walks into a club "The Viper Room" he walks in and listens to this trio performing; they are called "Chicks" or/the Chicks; he takes a special interest/only interest in their lead singer Linda Moon [Christina Milian:] a very talented singer/vocalist that has got herself into a sticky situation, it just so happens that Palmer knows Edie Athens [Uma Thurman:] she is going through our own thing as now the only owner of NTL Records as she now owes $300,000 but Palmer will do his thing make sure things go swimmingly and work out how they should.

Generally speaking: the framework and pacing of this 120 minutes film is straight off the bat in hindsight absolutely nothing like its predecessor, where for here and now; the original feels and looks like an all-round grown-up film as this sequel feels and very much looks like a sibling which has from birth been dropped on its head and has never recovered from that [for the record: I am fully within my rights to make these kind of references as I have brain damage.]

The comedy for most parts is juvenile especially with Roger "Raji" Lowenthal [Vince Vaughn:] he is misogynist homophobic, minus his obvious lack of African-American-ism, he tries everything else to be African-American, he is the secondary of the two people holding Moon's music contract for the record label Carosell Entertainments, the main individual that runs this record label is Nick Carr [Harvey Keitel:] the real brains behind the operation as he seems to spend 90% of his time on the phone making the world go around. Lowenthal also has a right-hand man by the name of Eliot Wilhelm [The Rock/Dwayne Johnson:] a gay struggling actor which has this eyebrow movement [in the wrestling industry known as; The People's Eyebrow.] Professionally or personally I don't care if it is 2005 or 2023 this whole Caucasian trying to be African-American was for like 99% of the time wasn't funny, so as you can imagine in 2023 in this case in particular; this entire character and performance is so outdated and I'm not even being woke here. This is one of those occasions where it is clear to see that these homophobic slurs were not and are not funny. I don't care if they were or were not meant to be funny they should have never been put in there in the first place and on top of that we have Johnson performing The People's Eyebrow and these comedy moments where we have other characters putting across as it looks amazing; okay we get it you are mocking a little bit of what brought you to Hollywood in Johnson.

There is just so much of this film that I could have easily done without seeing it the only individuals/pairing that had genuine chemistry is;  Sin LaSalle [Cedric the Entertainer/Cedric The Entertainer:] a world renowned record producer that want $300,000 that is owed to him from NTL Records and his family relation not by choice;his wife’s cousin, but right-hand man Dabu [André Benjamin/André 3000:] he either goes to gangster as wanting to shoot somebody or a long way from being gangster as you can get as he drinks a cup of tea with saucer in a very British manner at some point in this film, which his boss is far from impressed with, I know they're action sequences are meant to be comedy but as action as well they are the only things to write about/dictate about; on a quick side note this does include any other characters that are following the instructions of either one of these two characters and yes there are other bits and pieces before this and after these two but on the whole it is these two individually or together.

The rest of the character developments and performances are safe, you know if this is what they were going for they hit their target, but me because this one feels so juvenile there is a lot of empty space as in the original there is a lot of meaningful and intense dialogue so it made the scenes feel alive or lively.

Art; Palmer and Athens [Travolta and Thurman] dance again, this is in reference to Travolta and Thurman; performing this sequence which has became a part of classic modern cinema history from Pulp Fiction 1994; where Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace [Travolta and Thurman;] paraphrasing and in a nutshell here they go out for a bite to eat and they are sitting in this booth having something to eat. Whilst in this location there is this music playing; Wallace wants to dance Vega at first declines; Wallace then reminds Vega; he has been told whatever she wants to do you have to do it as he is your boss and my partner, so he changes his mind [ I am pretty sure like 95% sure that is how it goes.]

But back to this film; even with the Black Eyed Peas featuring Sergio Mendes performing this track "Sexy" and Mendes on piano in the background; I mean don't get me wrong it is good, but that is about it.

This film receives: 4/10, this film is mixed; I have just realised something which I should have realised a lot sooner until now. I have just realised that the original was from the 1990's and this sequel is from the early 2000's. So I am now thinking may be, well I say maybe I should replace that with it is the case of two different decades and as some of you should know out there that are interested in films in cases of decades changing from one to the other unless they are in close proximity of release you run the risk of representing two different target audiences; in this case you have Travolta as Palmer representing the returning audiences, whilst on the other hand and I can't believe I'm going to say this; you have Vaughn as Lowenthal representing back then of the 2000's the new generation of either mocking comedy or inadvertently mocking comedy. I'm still going to keep with this mark, but now I have worked that out I am not overly keen on this sequel as you can tell from the mark anyway, finally this film has 2 extra sequences roughly around each ending section of the ending credits. This film has some awards accredited to its name, this should go without saying but not all of these awards positive. Positive; 13 Nominees BET Comedy Awards 2005 [these are all from the same award ceremonies/event] BET Comedy Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Theatrical Film André 3000, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Theatrical Film Cedric The Entertainer, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Theatrical Film Christina Milian and Outstanding Directing for a Theatrical Film F. Gary Gray. Now the negatives; 1 Winner Austin Film Critics Association 2006 AFCA Worst Film Tied with The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005). Nominee Golden Schmoes Awards 2005 [both from the same award ceremony/event] Golden Schmoes Worst Movie of the Year & Biggest Disappointment of the Year The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards 2005 Nominee Stinker Award Worst Sequel